Good Money
by AnonVoy
Summary: She was a normal college student. Daughter. Sister. Friend. Lover. That was until a certain gangbanger saw her for who she really was, a queen.
1. Chapter 1

**IMPORTANT: I RESTRUCTURED ALL THE CHAPTERS SO THEY ARE ALL UPDATED AND EDITED SLIGHTLY, THERE IS NEW CONTENT AT THE END SO I DIDN'T LEAVE YA'LL HANGING, ENJOY IT! COMMENT WHAT YOU THINK. **

The sun was beating down on her exposed skin in the bright yellow bikini she was adorning. Her body moved rhythmically to the music that blasted through the large portable speakers resting on the sand. An endless sea of college students drank mind numbing liquids from red cups. It was the end of the summer. The a third of the junior class had rented buses and thrown the biggest beach party of the summer. Once the school heard about it, people from all classes started pouring in, and before they knew it the beach was filled and the party was too big to be stopped. It was the essence of college, students having fun, living like they were invincible.

Allison Boland being one of them. She was in her third year of school at the University of Michigan, the top school in the state. Her parents were proud, and she was thankful that they supported her and funded her education. Her grades were impeccable and she was on the track to graduate with honors, double majoring in International Relations and Environmental Science. She was proud of herself for working hard the past two years, managing to delegate enough time for a school, a social life, and minimal amounts of sleep. But hey, she was young. All nighters were nothing, adderall helped.

Her hands her in the air and she was jumping to the music in a circle of her friends, when she felt an incessant vibration against her hip. She tried to ignore it, but the person was obviously not getting the message that she was busy. The song changed to something with less bass, she downed the rest of her drink and told her best friend Megan she was going to get another one.

As she walked away from the crowd, towards where the kegs sat underneath a potable shelter, she was greeted by a deep male voice. Her eyes found her one of her very first guy friends from her first year of college. He stood with a collection of his fraternity brothers and some random freshman girls clad in scandalous bikini's. Sure Allison's showed enough skin but at least it wasn't dental floss and three triangles.

She approached the makeshift shelter and stepped on to the tarp covered sand. Her eyes swept over the group and she nodded to the couple guys she recognized. "Hey Chase, thanks for getting these guys to stay sober and drive the busses back to campus." She heard a couple of the guys chuckle and smirked as she noticed Chase's eyes run over her barely clothed body. Only one small knot stopped her breasts from escaping the swimsuit top. She had inherited her mother's genes in that department and was quite happy with her full, perky C cups. She wore a high rise cheeky bikini bottom that showed off her toned legs and exposed the bottom half of her ass.

When his eyes finally met hers once again he threw her a crooked smile. "Hey, you practically threw this thing. All the logistical shit. Don't think any of these guys could've been that organized." He shot a look at his frat brothers who added their agreement.

She let out a small laugh. "Yeah I get that from my mom. She's raising five kids." Allison couldn't miss the way the three younger girls were glaring at the ease she interacted with guys they had to work up the courage to talk to, the way she captured their attention without even trying. They treated her like one of their brothers, which she pretty much had been. Practically all the guys that had been on her freshman floor had ended up rushing the same fraternity, and moved in to the large house the next year.

Allison, choosing not to go the sorority route, like most of her friends, wasn't stuck at events or bleeding thousands every year just to adorn greek letters. But they were her friends so she went to the dances, supported them, helped them throw kick ass parties. Basically got all the perks without having to spend hours doing community service on top of her rigorous course load. She spent a lot of time at the gym with the guys as well, they were mostly to thank for her experience with weight lifting. Allison had never been stick thin, always having thicker thighs and ass, while her waist curved in nicely, her abs were not visible along her flat stomach, and her chest had never lost any weight, still she had her mom's genes to thank for not carrying any weight in her face. The college dining hall food definitely didn't help, but she had toned her body immensely by the end of her freshman year. Her stomach had flattened, her legs and butt were toned perfectly from the hundreds of weighted squats she did every week, while they held their full shape. Her arms reacted the same, she loved that when she flexed her bicep was bigger than some of the freshman pledges that would be in the house, but still held its feminine shape.

"Well, enjoy all this." Chase gestured to the large dance area before moving to pump the key and filled up a new cup for her, noticing hers covered in sand. "Make sure you come back on my bus." She may have been buzzed, but was sober enough to catch that innuendo as he handed her the cup. They had always flirted over the years, but never got together. Timing and all, with him never staying single for more than a few weeks. But he had been free all summer, his last breakup really messing him up. She felt for him. Life was hard.

Allison suddenly felt a strong arm drop on her shoulders, the force made her stumble slightly and glare at the drunk guy that was hugging her from the side and had made her spill nearly half her beer. "There's our little alpha." She immediately recognized Nick's slurred words. He had been voted Vice President Alpha Delta Phi this year, and he was surely celebrating.

Her arms shot out to steady her friend, Nick and Chase had been roommates freshman year, they were definitely closer than her and Nick would ever be, all he ever did was try to get in her pants. It seemed to her like he had finally given up at the end of last semester, seemingly satisfied with all the strange he was getting heading the hottest frat on campus. "Geez Nick chill on the drinks." She laughed as she set her half empty cup on top of the keg.

She was more relieved when he pulled his chiseled arm off of her and greeted his brothers, while sloppily checking out the other girls who Allison could feel burning holes in to her. _Okay these frat groupies need to back the fuck off. _Chase came to lift nudge her slightly as he refilled her cup. "Sorry bout him, I tried cutting him off an hour ago, you know how he is though."

Allison laughed before she took a sip of her beer. "Oh I know, how the hell he'd get VP?" She lowered her voice and leaned in to him slightly while she glanced over at the group who were too caught up in their own conversations.

One of the girls in a red bikini, looking rather pleased that she had the frat's vp touching her, his arm wrapped around her back and his hand very blatantly on the other side of her ass. She shot a smug look at Allison who scrunched her nose in disgust. _Man whore's all yours sister. _"Everyone loves the assholes." There was a bit of distaste in his voice that made Allison turn back to him fully. Her mind flashed to the way Chase's last relationship ended.

"Wanna hit the bars when we get back? And you don't have to be responsible for sloppy drunk college assholes?" Her lips lifted slightly.

His smile widened impossibly further. "For sure Al." She nodded and remembered the reason she had moved away from the loud party in the first place, the phone call.

Allison excused herself and walked towards the park area of beach, away from the blasting music. She unzipped her waterproof hip pack that held her valuable she wouldn't trust sitting on a beach full of college students. Her white iPhone displayed several missed calls from her father. She sighed, and decided to call him back, in case it was an emergency.

He answered after two rings. "Allie." His voice was frantic, which made her worry.

"Hey dad, what's up, I can't really talk much right now." She held the phone to her ear and gazed around the beach at the hundreds of people that scattered near the great lake.

He let out a sigh. "Of course, you're probably studying." She had to stop herself from laughing outright. _Its summer, what does Dad think I'm studying?_ She loved her father, but sometimes, Dean wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. "Have you talked to your mother recently?"

Worry set in to her bones. "Um, a couple days ago I think. Why did something happen? Is she okay?" Allison nervously brought the cup to her lips and took a sip.

"She's fine." His tone was short, clipped. Sounded so unlike the fun dad she had grown up loving and admiring.

"What's going on Dad?" She shifted her weight and looked down at the rubber sandals that wrapped around her feet.

She heard Dean sigh. "I messed up honey. I need her to forgive me, I love her. Please talk to her." The desperation in his voice was so out of the ordinary.

Her brows creased. "What did you do?" When he didn't answer she let out a breath. "I can't talk to her about anything if I don't know what I'm talking about." He still didn't say anything. Her mind started coming up with worse case scenario Her mother, Beth Boland, was the most understanding and caring individual she had ever known. It must have been really bad for her to shut him out. "Dad are you still there?"

"Yea." It hurt her deeply to hear the man who had raised her, sound so broken.

"Did you cheat on her?" She took his silence as an answer. "Oh come on dad. Really?"

Dean started rambling. "I made a mistake, a stupid, idiotic mistake. I would take it back if I could, I love your mother, all of you kids, you're my family." She didn't notice that tears were streaming down her face until they started drying. "I love you guys more than anything."

Allison scoffed. "Clearly not more than whoever you screwed." She hung up the phone. She couldn't believe that he could do that to her mom. They were always the perfect couple, the picture perfect family. Sure it put pressure on her, but her mom never made it feel like she didn't have a choice in whatever she did. Her dad was the perfect, most attentive father. He was her hero growing up.

She slid her phone back in her pocket and wiped the tears away from her eyes. She chugged her entire drink and walked towards the garbage at the edge of the park, near the parking lot.

Chase rejoined the group of his brothers and the random girls they had managed to attract after watching Allison walk away. Nick greeted his friend with a fist bump with the hand that wasn't occupied palming the freshman's ass. "Ya been pining after that bitch all summer bro. Don't be a pussy, go tap that."

Chase, who had enough of his drunk friend, pissed he referred to her as a bitch, rolled his eyes. "What's your deal today man? Pissed she won't spread her legs, that you've spent the last two years watching get toned in the gym, for you?"

Nick narrowed his eyes and scoffed. "Please. Boland can ice me out, but she want's this." He flexed his bicep.

The girl pulled in to his side ran her eyes over Nick before turning to Chase. "Wait, _that _was Allie Boland?" She turned her head towards where she could see Allison standing towards the parking lot, on her phone. "The pictures on UMM never show her face." Chase scrunched his nose at the stick thin blonde girl. He figured she would be the kind of girl shallow enough to follow the junior class drama through that the anonymous blog. There was a gossip blog on campus, called UMM, yeah real cool title. It had been a nucience since she had started school. No one knew who ran the blog, but everyone sent in tips. It was a monster and had started its fair share of rumors.

Nick let out a deep laugh. "Cause every pic is of her with her tongue down someone's throat."

Allison did not want to immediately join her hyped up college friends after the phone call with her father. Walking away from the grassed area, she moved towards where the silver busses they had rented were parked. She pulled open the door to the bus Chase had driven and left it open to air out the heated bus. There were random towels, bags, food scattered throughout the bus. It was hot in there, and that was saying something compared to the summer heat.

The heat was nothing compared to the pain she felt of her father turning out to be something she absolutely despised, a cheater. Taking a deep breath, she sat down on the cheaply clothes coach seats and dropped her head in to her hands. _This can not be happening. Poor mom. _

Her phone started to sound once again and the FaceTime screen popped up. It was her eldest younger sister. She adjusted her phone so they wouldn't see her clothing, or rather lack thereof. She was met with the faces of her siblings Kenny and Jane, the older ones. But she could distinctly hear the other two laughing and playing in the background.

"Hey guys." She forced a smile.

"Allie!" They squealed. The younger ones ran around to try and fit in to the camera. They pushed at each other for a couple moments before settling in.

"How's it going?" She tried to keep her voice even.

"Whoah, are you on a bus?" Jane asked excitedly, moving closer to the phone to get a better look. "Are you on a field trip?"

She glanced behind her and looked at the row of seats."Kind of." She decided not to elaborate. "I have to get back pretty soon, What's up?"

They all looked at each other in silence. It unnerved her, they had grown so much in the two years while she was away at school. "Why can't Daddy come home?" Kenny finally asked.

"What?" _Why didn't he mention she kicked him out? _She understood why Beth did it, hell she was surprised her mother had enough balls to toss him out of the house.

Jane nodded her head frantically. "He's in a motel. It's small but we get snacks from the machine." Allison frowned, not realizing it had gotten that bad. "When is he coming home?"

"I don't know Janey." She tried to comfort her the most she could being in another city.

"Awwie, you come back?" Emma's voice floated through my phone. It brought tears to her eyes once again.

"I'm at school guys." She tried to keep it simple.

"But we have school here." Kenny argued and she laughed slightly at his innocent, yet very accurate, argument.

"Maybe I'll come visit soon." She talked to them about school and their friends to try and get their little minds off of very adult matters. After about twenty minutes her call had ended. She dropped her head in to her hands and let the sobs she was holding in overtake her.

The guilt she felt, not being there for her family. Not being there when her mother had just been cheated on by a man she gave over twenty years to. She had rough rebellious teenage years that drove a bit of a wedge between them, but once she had gotten her shit together, got into college and actually started to grow up, she was closer to her mother. They had become more like friends the older she got. She felt guilty for being so caught up in her life at school not to notice that her family, who was only a short drive away, was falling apart.

The bus door opened, but she was to wrapped in her thoughts to notice. Chase sat down on the seat across from her. "Allie? Are you okay?" She glanced up at him and nodded her head, wiping the tears away from her face. "Megan came up with a bunch of people looking for you. I saw ya come this way."

She gave him a small smile. "I'm good, just some family stuff."

He nodded. "She said something about needing her partner for beer pong." She laughed and decided to try to enjoy the rest of the party.

"Well who am I to try a say no to a determined drunk Megan." She stood and adjusted her two peace slightly.

Chase followed her out of the bus. "You sure your okay Allie?"

When they both touched the ground, his hand reached her arm gently. She forced a smile and nodded. "Yeah, let's just get back." She pushed all thoughts of her family out of her head, which was easier said than done, and tried to party.

The next morning, Allison was walking across campus in one of chase's frat shirts, tucked in to the short jean shorts, the cloudless sky provided no protection against the beating sun, at least she had sunglasses. Her naturally wavy hair was thrown up in to messy bun as soon as she had looked in a mirror. Her Calvin Klein half backpack was hanging off one of her shoulder as she slowly moved through the streets surrounding campus, towards her housing building, her bikini tucked safely inside.

After about a ten minute walk and affectively ignoring anyone that could make her walk even longer, she swiped into her building and pulled her phone out of her pocket, hitting her mother's contact. She answered after a couple rings, it was about ten am so she figured Beth would answer.

"Hi honey!" Her voice was cheery but had a bit of an edge to it. "Have your started classes yet?"

She sighed, knowing her mother would try to hide the issues that they were having. "Nah, not yet. I still have another week." She paused, not wanting to upset her mother, but needing to know if everything was okay back at home. "How're things going?"

There was a long pause on the line. "Good, good, the kids start school tomorrow. " She frowned, as her mom continued ranting about trivial things.

Eventually she had to cut Beth off. "Were you going to mention Dad moving out?"

Beth took a sharp intake of breath. "Did he tell you?"

"No, Kenny asked me when our dad was coming home. Mom, what's going on?" She really wanted her mother to trust her enough to explain what was happening. She knew from her father, but she didn't want to make her mother feel any worse than she already was.

She heard her sigh deeply. "We are just having some problems, it's temporary." Beth's voice was strained and caused all the worry from the previous day to surface.

"So um, I was thinking, maybe I move home and commute for the semester, you must have your hands full with the rugrats running around. With Dad gone..."

"No, no Allie, you don't have to do that." _Wow. _She would have thought her mother would have been ecstatic to have her back home, judging by how hesitant she was to send her off to school anyway, and the constant phone calls and texts she got. "You are having such a fun time out in Ann Arbor."

"I know, but it will keep me focused on school, and I miss my siblings, my family." Beth stayed silent not able to argue. "Plus it'll save some money. I don't know how many grants I'll end up with next year, they get more competitive. I have a three day weekend and the commute is nothing." She didn't realize how much she missed home, she loved her life at social life, but she was getting close to graduation, and cooling it with the partying may be a good idea.

"You have really thought this through, haven't you hunny." She nodded her head before she remembered her mother couldn't see her and affirmed Beth's statement. "Okay, I'll make sure your room is all set." She heard some commotion in the background. "Call me later with details and if you need anything. I love you."

"Love you too." Allison responded before hanging up. She looked around the single dorm she managed to score for the summer. She would need to go to the housing office and start packing, if she wanted to get her money back for the semester housing. She brewed a cup of coffee from the Keurig rested on top of the mini-fridge and made a mental list of all the things she would need to get through hungover all day.

Allison was speeding down the highway, towards the suburbs of Detroit, where she had grown up. After deliberating, she decided to move home to help out her mother, be around her family. And after spending the entire summer partying, she figured living away from campus and the constant influence of parties and boys would help her keep her grades up as the course load became more advanced.

Her carload of personal belongings was packed to the brim. She pulled up in front of her childhood home. Her mom's minivan was parked in the driveway and she frowned when she noticed the lack of her father's car. She had hoped that they would have been able to work this out before things got worse, but her father was still kicked out of the house and from what she had heard from the kids, things had been frantic, they would go between school and sitters and dad's motel, apparently Beth had been distant and distracted from her family recently.

She took a deep breath and moved her head along with the music. She could handle a semester at home, a year at most. Plus school was only a thirty minute drive away, so she wouldn't be far. She threw her purse over her shoulder and unhooked her phone from the charger. Pulling the keys out of the ignition, she opened the door and made her way in to my childhood home.

The memories flooded back to her, the calm quiet of the mostly empty house was out of the norm. She was glad to have left early enough in the day that she'd have time to get settled before she'd would be forced to watch endless animated movies and play copious amounts of video and board games with her much younger siblings. She always wished she had sibling closer to her in age.

Beth had gotten knocked up with her while their parents were dating in college. Her mother had dropped out to take care of her while Dean finished his business degree. She had always felt a sort of guilt, the thought of being the thing that held her mother back from a career, from something more fulfilling. But Beth had always sworn to her that she wouldn't change a thing, that Allison was the best thing that ever happened to her.

"Mom?" She called out as she walked through the entryway and sitting room. Approaching the kitchen, her mother came in to sight.

"We're in here honey." Beth was cutting up a variety of fruits and mixing them together in to a salad. A smile spread across Allison's face as she saw her aunt sitting at the kitchen island. She realized right then really how much she wished her family. Allison wished she had visited more, but had been too caught up in her own life.

Beth crossed the room in record time the moment she laid eyes on her eldest daughter and enveloped her in a hug. "Welcome home honey." She spoke softly as Allison hugged her back, sensing that there was something much more behind that emotion in her voice.

They pulled apart and she looked at her mother. She looked tired, like really tired. Allison had seen Beth tackle fundraisers and birthday parties and carpooling, the laundry, the cooking, without breaking a sweat. _Something really must be going on. _

Allison moved towards her aunt. "Hey Antie Ann." She smiled widely and nudged her.

Annie narrowed her eyes at the younger woman. "You know I hate it when you call me that, bitch." She slapped her playfully before pulling Allison in to a hug. "Oh my god you look so hot, I mean you were always hot, but hella hotter now. College did ya good kid." She pulled away and rolled her eyes at the compliment.

Allison loved her aunt, she was the stereotypical version of a cool aunt. She's the one Allison first told about losing her virginity. Helped her through her first hangover after freshman homecoming, and held her hair back when she mixed too many substances one summer night after graduation. "Ooh and your legal now. Hell yes! Beth pour her up a drink. You have to tell me all about that lovely college life that I see on insta, ugh I need to relive my 20's vicariously through you." Allison laughed at this.

"Lay off her Annie. It's eleven am." Beth looked at her sister. "Don't you have work?"

"Nope!" She leaned back in her chair and opened a can of soda. "Free until Saddie's done with school."

Allison missed her younger too. She was everything, the perfect human. "How is she?" She questioned.

"She's good, getting too big too fast." Annie pouted. "Ugh, these punk as kids have been picking on her."

Allison frowned. _Of course they are_. She was different, and people couldn't look past that and see the amazing person she was. "She's tough Annie. And she has tons of people that love and accept her."

Beth was moving around the kitchen finishing cutting fruit and cleaning everything up. "How was the drive?"

She shrugged. "It was good, hit a little bit of traffic, but it wasn't so bad." She nodded and continued. She could tell that something was on Beth's mind. Her mother was never this quiet. She was always chatting up a storm about what the kids were doing or some PTA thing she was working on. Allison looked towards her aunt. "Hey Annie, can you help me bring some of my stuff in?"

She let out a long sigh of laziness. Any physical activity wasn't really her forte. "I guess." Annie took a long sip of soda before throwing herself out of the chair dramatically and heading towards the front door. Allison threw her a smile at her mom who was also amused by her sister's antics.

Once we were outside, I immediately started grilling her. "Alright, no bullshit, what the fuck is going on around here?"

She stopped dead in her tracks on the front lawn and turned around. Her mouth was slightly gapped in surprise. "What do you mean?" She was finally able to say after a moment.

Allison rolled my eyes and moved past her. "Oh come on, I know dad cheated on her." She heard Annie let out a distinct sigh of relief which confused her even more. _What did she think I was talking about? _

She finally caught up to Allison at the car as she pulled the trunk open. "Um yeah." Annie stuttered out as Allison handed her a duffle and one of her suitcases. "I guess his secretary."

Allison scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Well that's cliché." They managed to get everything up to her room in about five trips. She had a lot of clothes.

They talked about random things as they got a good workout in for the day. Allison caught her up on everything she had been up to at school, no filter needed. And she learned that Gregg and his new wife Nancy were suing Annie for custody of Saddie.

When they were finally done, Annie collapsed on the couch. "You owe me big time girl. Next time I move, you bet your ass is going to be there." She laughed but otherwise agreed, before going in to the kitchen and getting us both some water.

Beth was starting out the kitchen window in to the back yard, lost in thought. Allison walked up to her and put her hand on her mother's arm. "Mom, are you okay?"

She blinked and seemed to gather her thoughts. She rested a hand on top of Allison's and gave her a reassuring smile. "Of course."

Of course she saw through the bullshit. "Come on mom, you and dad, this all must be hard, how are you feeling?" To most people it might have been strange trying to comfort your mother, but to Allison it wasn't. Growing up, her mom was her hero. Dad was always at work and until my younger siblings came along, it was just her and Beth most of the time, for almost ten years. Allison was normally the one helping around the house as well, tag teaming her younger siblings with her mom when things got hectic, which it did when you had five kids in the house.

She was pretty sure that's why she rebelled so much in high school. Allison didn't want all that responsibility, she wanted to be a kid, and do grown up things. But that was usually what every teenagers wanted. Beth looked at her daughter with so much emotion in her eyes. "Everything will be okay honey."

"Are you going to divorce him?" Allison asked, honestly thinking she should.

She looked lost in though at her question. "I don't know." She could tell the answer was honest and Allison nodded before bringing water to my dehydrated aunt.

Annie sat up and took the glass from my hand. "I wanted soda." She complained before taking a long sip.

"Soda kills you." Allison shrugged. Annie laughed at this, whether she believed her or not, she wasn't sure, but at least Annie was entertained.

Allison spent the next few hours unpacking all my bags and boxes, looking through all the photos and memories from high school and college. It was about four in the afternoon when she heard an array of young voices calling her name from downstairs. Their footfalls could be heard coming up the stairs towards her room. She decided to get up from where she was sat at my desk and met them in one of their rooms, before they destroyed her recently organized bedroom.

Allison spent the night playing with the kids. Dinner was a bit tense to say the least. The kids kept things light like usual, but there was still underlying tension. Dean had talked to her about school and pretended like his marriage wasn't falling apart. It was more for the kids benefit, but Allison, she could see through the bullshit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Over the next week Allison got in to a good routine. She was in school four days a week, would come home, help out with her siblings, mostly show them how to do their homework, then go to bed. When the weekend finally rolled around, her friends were begging her to stay on campus for the weekend. Apparently there were darties happening all weekend. Still, she decided to tone it down and chill with the kids at home this weekend, get ahead on some readings.

She was babysitting the kids as Beth was out for yet another night. The sun was starting to set and she had just set the kids up with snacks and a minions movie. Feeling stressed from the week and slightly annoyed with her siblings, she needed a mental break before the chaos of bed time. Allison didn't understand how her mother did this every single night.

She grabbed a blunt out of the hiding place in the back of her closet and quietly made her way in to the back yard. Allison smiled as she watched the sun set over the horizon and lit the blunt, pulling a long drag to get it started. She walked around the yard, puffing the blunt and thinking of all the days she had spent running around kicking a soccer ball or how she used to run away when she was a kid and camp in the tree house, especially when there were new babies and she felt neglected and forgotten because of how much attention they got. She climbed up the wooden ladder with the blunt in her lips. When she reached the top, she leaned on the railing and watched as the colors danced across the sky.

Thump. Suddenly she heard something. It sounded like it was coming from inside of the tree house. Allison pulled open the door and the sight before her made the blunt fall from between her lips and land on the wooden platform. There, hogtied in my childhood treehouse, was a man. He was gagged and struggling. As soon as he saw her, he tried started screaming for her to help him, but it was muffled by his gag.

Allison closed her eyes tightly and re opened them. _Nope. He's here. Not hallucinating, this weed isn't laced._ _Is this why mom was is stressed out?_ There was no way her mother could have done that. Beth was the beacon of moral right. Allison figured there had to be more to the story. She considered untying him. _What if he goes to the cops?_ _What if my mom got in trouble?_ No, there had to be an explanation for this, she just had to find out what it was.

Allison stepped slowly in to the shelter, the man looked up at her with pleading eyes. She could tell he had been bleeding. "Okay, okay." She whispered as she crouched down. "I'm going to take this out of your mouth okay?" She asked tentatively. He stopped struggling and nodded his head.

She pulled the gag from his mouth and he swallowed dryly. "Those bitches are crazy, please untie me." He struggled out before coughing. _Those bitches? Mom and Annie? Crazy? Of course a man would call a woman crazy. They're definitely not crazy. _At least she didn't think so.

"What happened to you? Why are you here?" She wanted to let the man go, her humanity getting the best of her, but her family loyalty and little knowledge about the situation made her pause. Her mother and aunt were good people, they wouldn't do something like this without a reason.

He shook his head and started struggling, making her jump and fall back. She slid until her back was against the wall. "I don't know, just get me out of here." The way he was looking at her unnerved her. She of all people, hated to judge someone by how they looked, but this guy looked like a Grade A creep.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before giving him a small smile and nodding. He looked at her thankfully, but even that looked malicious. She moved towards him and quickly stuck the gag back in his mouth and tightened it, before he could struggle away. His protests were muffled, which she was grateful for. She exited the shelter and looked out at the setting sun for a moment before turning back to the bound man.

Against most people's better judgement, Allison slowly pulled the door closed, picked up her still burning blunt and climbed down the treehouse like nothing happened.

By the end of her classes the next day, she was beat. Allison arrived on campus at six am that morning to attend a stupid meeting with one of her advisors. Then cue the next six hours straight of classes and studying, at least her last one had gotten out early.

Allison pulled into her driveway and got out of her car. She frowned as she looked at it. Remembering the day her dad gifted it to her on her sixteenth birthday. She loved her dad, but she hated the fact that he cheated on her mom.

She reached in to the side pocket of my backpack to get the house key but came up empty. _Fuck._ Groaning, she moved to go in to the back door.

As soon as she opened the door Allison felt the air shift. She could hear glasses breaking, furniture falling over that covered up the sound of the back door opening. Her breathing stopped and hairs stood on end. _Something's wrong, someone's here._ She could hear Annie whimpering followed her mother's voice.

"What are you going to blow our brains out all over the room?" _Mom? _Beth's voice floated through the house. _Shit, guns?_ "Cause that's how it works right? Someone shorts you and they get tossed out like trash?" _Shorts you? _She wondered why they were talking about money. "And no one cares? And no one even notices? Your problem this time is that's not us, we're normal people. We pay our taxes, take our kids to pf changs, bring orange slices to soccer games. And when something bad happens to good people, everybody goes crazy. There are all these hashtags and movements. Because if it could happen to us, it could happen to anyone." Damn, she had to give her mom credit for being able to talk, even in life threatening situations, she just wish she knew what was going on. Allison could tell her voice was coming through the dinning room. A small sectional wall being the only thing concealing the large table from my view. Her heart pounded so loudly in her chest, she thought it was going to explode.

Her mother's voice continued. "So if you wanna invite all that attention over few grand, then you aren't the smart business man you think you are. So roll the dice, pull the trigger, see what happens?" _Why the hell is she goading them?_ Allison decided to do what she could to at least distract the situation, if anything see her mother one last time before she was killed.

Her mother had definitely gotten involved in something, something dangerous. _She has a man tied up in the backyard, and is now pleading for her own life over what? Money? What the fuck is happening?_ Allison shut her eyes at let the fear in for five seconds… _one...two...three...four...five_. Then she let it go. She felt all the fear leave her body.

Allison slammed the door, threw her backpack down loudly and called out in the most cheery and innocent voice she could. "Hey mom!" She was relieved when she didn't immediate hear a gun shot. "Class got out early. My morning meeting was brutal." She started to walk forwards. "Ooh… they got this new smoothie on campus, tons of antioxidants, with chia seeds and…" Her voice trailed off as she took in the scene in front of her.

Annie and Ruby had their arms around each other in the chairs they were sitting in, comforting each other's shaking forms. Their backs were turned, but their heads moved to look at her as she entered. They head tears in their eyes and fearful looks on their faces.

Across the short width of the table from them sat Beth. Her heart broke, seeing her mother look so scared. Beth's eyes were brimmed red and she was looking at a man leaning against the sofa before her eyes snapped to her daughter. A hot flash of fear for her child shot through her.

There was a large, burly white man, covered in tattoos with a long beard and bald head holding a pistol with a silencer attached to it against the side of Beth's head. _Shit. This is bad._ "Allison get out of here." Beth managed to get out. As much as she wanted to turn and run out of the house as her mother had requested, she wouldn't leave her mom, aunt, and literally lifelong friend to die at the hands of whoever the guys were.

The man that had been leaning against the sofa stood up, clearly the leader of this little trio, according to the vibe she was getting. Allison watched him with a guarded gaze. He was young, but had a chiseled defined face. This tan, mexican-american skin contrasted well with his nearly all black attire.

"Nah I think she good right here." His eyes ran over her like a predator stalking its prey as he took slow, long strides, closing the distance between them. He noted how much she resembled her mother, aside from the hair, unless it was in the sun. His eyes dragged over her full, athletically toned body. One he was sure Beth had adorned before the five kids. As his eyes ran over her body and it made her feel naked. Even though she was completely covered in the leggings and bare shouldered long sleeve shirt she had gone to class in.

"Chia seeds huh?" Something about the depths of his eyes, the pain, the control, the anger, intrigued her. She forced herself to blink after a few seconds and try to remember his question. Allison just nodded. "Yeah, yeah, that shit goes real good in a smoothie, throw in some spinach, green apples, kiwi, lil almond milk you got yourself something there."

He slipped his phone back in to his pocket and shook his head at the man holding the gun. The man lowered his arm and all four women let out a breath of relief. That was until he turned his predatory glance back on Allison.

She couldn't help her eyes from taking in his form. At first glance, he looked lethal, the tattoos, the dangerous vibe, everything fathers told their daughters to stay away from. She couldn't help herself from noticing his more positive attributes. His lean muscular body. He wore a gray zip up hoodie, black jeans, and a black jacket. Sure she had seen some good bodies, but something about his made her wish his clothes weren't covering it. His chiseled jaw line, lined with a thin five o clock shadow. His full lips that pulled into a smirk when he realized what she was doing. She met his eyes and there was a hint of mischief that danced in them. She quickly remembered the situation she was in and how this man could easily kill all of them. She glanced over at her mom, confused as to what was going on. "Mom." Her voice was barely above a whisper, Beth gave her daughter a pained look. "What is going on?"

The hispanic man took another step closer two her, keeping a generous foot between them and let out a deep laugh. "What's going on sweetheart, is ya mama here thinkin' it cool to take my money." Her brows furrowed. _How the hell would my mom steal from what clearly looks like a gang? _

"Ya see." He reached behind him and pulled a black gun out of his waistband. Allison's breath caught in her throat. Sure she had seen guns before, her campus was right outside of Detroit, even low level weed dealers carried guns. But the way he handled it, like it was second nature, freaked her out. He gave her another once over before running the tip of the gun along her expose collarbone and shoulder, slowly, as he spoke. "I ain't tolerate that."

Allison let out a rather pathetic whimper that she was not proud of. "Get away from her." Beth's voice came out harshly through clenched teeth. "You have everything we could give you. Just go."Allison tried to hold her ground, staring straight ahead at the eagle tattoo on the man's neck. She wondered how many people saw the intricate art, stared at it as they died.

Rio glanced behind his shoulder towards Beth and she had to force herself to repress the admiration of the lean muscles along his neck and shoulder, how the rippled at he moved. "Ya wrong there, Elizabeth." He spoke her full name harshly before turning back to the young woman in front of him. His eyes swept over her, taking in every detail.

Allison didn't lie like the harsh metal brushing along her skin, the promise of death, or at least severe brain damage, staring her right in the face. Hating the fact that this man was threatening the lives of people she cared about, she stepped away from the harsh metal and used all the strength she could to muster a glare at the man. "You should get out of here before the cops get here." He raised a thick eyebrow, amused. "I hit emergency mode on my phone as soon as I walked in and heard my mother begging for her life." She glanced at the apple watch that sat on her wrist. "Response time's about 10 minutes around here, eight if we're lucky. I should mention I was waiting in the doorway for a few." His jaw ticked and she took some pride in the fact that her bluff was holding up.

His lips then pulled slightly upwards and parted, his tongue slowly running over the bottom one. Allison couldn't help herself from watching the movement. _So hot. No not hot, he's gonna kill us. _Her mind wasn't snapped back in to the situation until he spoke. "I could easily shoot ya 'n call ya bluff, darlin'." _Shit Allie, you're gonna fuck it up, why didn't you actually hit emergency mode?! Okay breath. _

Her eyes snapped to his. The dark irises studied her for any sign she wasn't being honest. She maintained a comfortable smile on her face and forced her heart to slow down, before smirking at him. "I'm a college student right outside of Detroit. The late nights, walking home in the dark, stupid drunk frat boys. We girls always have a plan to call for help, I got pepper spray too." She glanced at the gun that hadn't moved from it's position. _At least it's not digging in to my skin anymore. _"But I'm guessing that thing's a lil more effective." He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders before shaking his head away from her and glancing at the other three woman in the room.

Rio contemplated his next move, knowing that with the possibility she had alerted someone, he was running on minimal time. It was only a few seconds before he turned back to Allison and lowered the gun from where he had it pointed at her. He then stepped forward and leaned down closing the height gap and whispered in her ear as he grazed the gun over her hip and down the side of her thigh, something only his left hand man saw. "Suppose, walkin' round lookin' like that, gotta have a plan b. I'll be seein' more of ya, Allison." For some reason her heart ticked from the term of endearment, and not out of fear. He gestured for his men to pack up and leave, before trailing behind them.

Allison let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, as soon as she heard the back door slam shut. "Sweet Jesus." Beth let out a relieved whimper.

She moved to sit down in the chair next to her mother as Annie and Ruby gathered themselves. "Does this have something to do with guy hogtied up in our treehouse?" She asked, looking at my Beth.

She let out a bellowing laugh. Allison looked at her aunt and family friend in confusion. They could have died a minute ago. _Why the fuck is she laughing?_ Honestly, Allison couldn't blame her. It was some type of shit out of a bad cartel movie. "Told ya she'd find him." Annie got out through laughs of her own.

Beth turned to her daughter. "Allie honey, I can explain everything." She was still laughing before stopping all together and pulling Allison in to her arms, savoring the fact they had made it another day.

She pulled away from her mom and narrowed her eyes. "Please do. What the fuck is going on?"

Beth opened her mouth, but couldn't find the words to explain to her daughter the situation she had gotten them in to. Annie scoffed. "Geez, I'll do it. We robbed a grocery store first off."

Allison's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

Beth glared at her sister. "I was going to leave that part out." Allison rolled her eyes at this. _Of course he was._

"Aw come on Beth, she's all grown up now." Annie argued.

"She's still in school." Beth's argument was weak and she knew it. Her daughter had blossomed in to a bright and smart young woman.

"Yeah, college." Annie rolled her eyes and turned to Allison. "So anyway, the grocery store was laundering money for this gang, and we kinda took a bunch of their money. But we gave it back. Most of it."

"Why did you take it?" Allison looked at all of them.

"We were going to lose the house." Beth confessed sadly. Allison looked at her, wishing she could do something to help her mother. Beth decided to keep the fact that it was her father's fault from her, she didn't want to damage their relationship more than it already was.

"Sarah needs a new kidney." Ruby spoke and Allison looked at her sympathetically. It hurt seeing the little girl going through so many hospital visits and treatments.

"I'm just dirt poor, and keen to making poor decisions." Annie lightened the mood.

She nodded, understanding. People lived in hard times. "And what's up with dude in the tree house?" Her thumb gestured towards the back of the house.

"He was going to tell the cops everything. And he tried to rape me." Her aunt explained.

"He did? Are you okay?" Her concern showed. Annie nodded.

They spent the next hour cleaning up the mess that the gang made. At some point after the sun set, Annie pulled out a bottle of tequila and Ruby passed shot glasses around. "To life." They all toasted. After they took their shots, there was a loud bang outside. They went out to find that Boomer had escaped.

"He couldn't have gotten far." Annie argued.

"You guys go." Allison said. "I'll get this all cleaned up, she gestured around the room.

The next day, after long classes, Allison found herself helping her little brother with his math homework while trying to do some of her own on the picnic table in their backyard. She was enjoying the feel of the warm sun, savoring the end of summer as fall was right around the corner.

Allison wasn't sure how, she hadn't heard him, too engrossed in her reading. It wasn't until her little brother asked her a question about division, did she notice _him_ leaning against the tree in front of the table. She jumped slightly and took in his casual stance. He was wearing a navy blue button up and black jeans, and she let herself, for only a moment, take in how attractive he looked. _Damn he's sexy. _

She pushed Kenny off the bench gently and told him to get their mother. The man smirked and rounded the table after watching the young boy run off in to the house. She thought about moving away from his advancing form, but kept her seat and twirled her mechanical pencil between her fingertips to ward off the anxiety she felt. Surely he wouldn't shoot her in broad daylight, with children in the house thirty feet away. They needed to invest in a damn security system, with cameras.

He sat on the table and rested his feet on the bench. His casual stance relaxed her, but the deadly vibe he gave off, outweighed that. His thigh was right next to her head and he stared down at her intensely before chuckling. "So funny thing, hung round last night, didn't see any pigs roll up." His accent was panty dropping, mixed with the dangerous street vibe and slang, he was the definition of a bad boy. She thought she had gotten over her bad boy phase in high school, but this man took it to another level.

She met his gaze. He was studying her, all while maintaining a relaxed mask on his face, hiding any emotion. "Weird." She shrugged, not knowing what he expected her to say. He clearly already had all the answers.

He glanced at the book she was reading. His hand moved to turn it and look at the cover. "Federal Reserve huh? Ya like money?"

Allison pulled her book away from him, ignoring the tingling sensation as her hand brushed his. "It's more about the creation of our modern monetary system and the people who designed it as a way to enrich an elite class at the expense of the working one." His eyes changed before he could control it, a glimmer of interest or respect slipped through. She saw something in his change, she didn't know his well enough to read him yet, but it lessened the tense atmosphere so she decided to keep going. "It's basically explaining why our system is so currently fucked and who's to blame. Some other historical things too, I'm only about half way through. But to answer your question, no. I don't like money." His thick black brows raised at this.

"E'rybody likes money." He threw a confident smile on his face.

She rolled her eyes at this. "Money's nothing." He disagreed, but he heard her out. "I mean when you break it down, it's useless paper with a loss promise attached." His smile relaxed as he hung on her words with interest. "Sure in the society we live in, we think it's the most valuable thing, but it really isn't."

He smirked and tilted his head slightly, wanting her to continue. "An' what you thinks valuable?"

She scoffed and raised a brow, wondering why the gang boss was asking her about some book she was reading for her economic theory paper. "Um, I don't know. People, society, all kinds of art." He looked him in the eye. "Progress. Things you can't throw a stack of paper at and immediately have." His eyes scanned over her, studying every inch. The way her naturally wavy golden brown hairs with twinges of red that show through in the sun, cascades off her shoulder and down her back. From his angle, he could see handsomely down her low cut tank top, black lace peeking through from her simple lace bralette. "I feel like at the end of the day, it's not how much money you have, it's what you do with it." He simply stared at her. Interest piqued at her perspective. Beauty and brains.

He rested his arm on his thigh and leaned towards her, making Allison meet his gaze. His other hand came to brush a strand of hair away from her face. "An' what would _you _do wit' all the dough in the world, darlin'?"

The question made her look away and actually think. His hand fell from her face at the movement. "Allison?" Her mother's worried voice rang through the backyard. As the man came in to her view, she stiffened.

He moved to stand up. "Good talk, sirenita." His accent as so thick as he spoke the unknown Spanish word, it sent an unwilling shiver up her spine. She shook her head and moved to stand next to her mother.

"If you want the rest of the money, we can get it." Beth immediately said.

The man stuck his hands in his pockets and shook his head. "Nah, let's forget 'bout all that." Allison's brow creased in confusion. _He's gonna let us off the hook?_

"Then why are you here?" Allison asked. He smirked at her, at her question, noting that she only asked it now that her mother had joined them, and not when she first noticed him.

"I been thinkin' bout what ya said, ya know about bein' a basic bitch and what not." He took a couple steps towards Beth.

Beth scoffed. "That's not exactly what I said."

"Maybe there's something you can do for me. You and your lady friends got passports?" Allison creased her brows at his question.

"I need something picked up, in Canada. You get it, bring it back. Then we're square. I'll forget 'bout the money." Rio explained. Beth had been convinced, the opportunity to get out of all this business with the gang was appealing. Not having that dark cloud looming over her.


	3. Chapter 3

**THIS CHAPTER DOES CONTAIN RECREATIONAL DRUG USE AND M RATED SEXUAL SITUATIONS. NO HARD DRUG USE OR TRIGGERING SCENES SO I WILL NOT BREAK THE FLOW OF THE STORY BY INDICATING THESE.**

Chapter 3

From what Allison knew, the next week her mother, Annie, and Ruby, made a trip to Canada, settled up with the gang, and everything was going back to normal. Beth was still stressed about money, they all were. But Allison focused on her studies, spent most nights after class on campus, getting dinner with friends, working out at the gym, and studying. Things seemed to be relatively normal back at the house. Except for the fact that Dean was still exiled. Allison missed her father and had only seen him in passing, picking up the kids, or when Beth allowed him in the house for dinner.

Her friends had convinced her to out the following Saturday night, one of her friends from freshman year, and our class's signature drug dealer, got them on a list at them on the list at this club in Detroit. They were all driving out there and staying at Chase's sister's condo for the night. She was excited to dress up and have a fun night, let go of all the stresses of her home life and celebrate the fact that her family had gotten out of the life of high crime.

The late afternoon, setting sun was shining through her windows as she stared at herself in the large body mirror leaning against the wall. She wore a short black, cocktail dress. It was thin strapped with a deep v neck that plunged to her navel. Shimmering black bands encircled her waist and continued up her torso over her exposed abdomen and ended where her boobs were pressed down by the dress and exposed by the neckline, giving them the perfect, perky, full look, two orbs perfectly placed. She paired it with a simple pair of black chunky heels so she would actually be able to walk.

She pulled on a trenchcoat that reached her knees, so her mother wouldn't worry about her going out and partying, and said goodbye to her family, letting them know she was staying with Megan that night. She threw her large tote bag holding everything she would need to be comfortable for the night in to the front passenger seat and climbed in her car. She set off towards the highway.

The group had gotten settled in the condo and started pregaming immediately. There were four guys, Chase, two other guys from his frat, Liam, and three girls, Allison, Megan, and Alysha, their petite blonde friend. Music was blasting and they were all getting a good buzz. Around 11, they started getting ready to go to the club. Allison had never been there, not that she had been out much in downtown Detroit since she had only turned 21 a few months ago.

They called a large Uber and all piled in to the van. As they pulled up to their destination, Allison didn't expect such a popular club. There was a line wrapped around the building, with two large bouncers guarding the door. "You got our name on the list right?" Megan's voice asked Liam as they stepped out of the car.

"Yea I'm not trying to wait in that line." Allison nudged Liam jokingly.

He laughed in his buzzed state and threw and arm around her shoulders. "No worries chicá, my big brother's tight with the owner, told him I was bringin some friends around tonight."

Allison nodded as they approached the door, walking straight past the line. The large group received a few nasty looks from the impatient people in line. Liam gave him name to the bouncer and greeted him in a friendly manner. He gave a weary look at the amount of people he had with them, quickly checking out the girls and approving, but not wanting to offset the ratio too much inside. Liam quickly reached in to his pocket and slid him a couple hundreds, which caused the large man to pat him on the shoulder in a friendly manner and move the red rope, letting us all in.

The club was amazing. Bass was pounding through the speakers, there was an illuminated circular bar in the center of the large area. Lights danced across the crowd of people. It wasn't packed, which was nice, not being shoved every two seconds. They made their way to the bar immediately ordered a few rounds and downed them before moving to the dance floor at the back of the club.

There was a DJ mixing music and at least a hundred people jumping to the beat in front of him. Off of the dance floor, elevated slightly off the main floor, much like the DJ stand was were about four VIP sections. All filled. They walked past one on their way to the center of the dance floor. Allison was feeling the strong buzz of the alcohol and was swaying her hips to the music when something caught her eye and made her freeze in place, her friends trailing ahead of her.

Sitting in at the center of a circular half booth was the man that had held a gun on her only a week ago. His eyes caught hers, he looked surprised for a second before he put a cold mask on his face. He was there for business, he didn't need to be distracted by her. But the second she caught his eye, his focus started slipping away and she occupied each thought in his mind.

He wondered why she was there. He was already annoyed, he was only here to make a deal with the owner, after the girls had robbed him, he needed some cash flow. Normally he didn't deal with drugs, but money was money. What made him stop all other train of thought and focus on the girl, was the fact that the perfect honor student, daughter of a cookie cutter suburban housewife, was doing in a drug distributor's night club.

He rose from his seat and watched her retreating form as she made her way to the restrooms. His boys gave him a questioning look, but one glare stopped any questions. She moved as fast as she could through the people towards the bathroom. She needed to calm herself down. She was too drunk to deal with an inner-city gangbanger. They had settled up, but that didn't mean he still wasn't capable of killing them.

She spent a few minutes taking deep breaths and giving herself mental pep talks. When she felt like she could continue her night and hopefully convince her friends to leave early in the night, she stepped out of the stall and looked at herself in the mirror. She threw some lip gloss on her lips and made sure her makeup still looked the same.

Pulling the door open, she looked around for her friends in the sea of people. "Some dress ya got on there, sweetheart." His voice made all her nerves stand on end. She slowly turned to look at him. He was wearing a two piece suit, with a loose white button up underneath. She hand to admit as she couldn't stop her drunk mind from taking over her body, he looked sexy. _Fucking sexy. _ "Funny place to find ya." He took slow, taunting steps forward. She countered them, stepping back until her back met a wall, they were in the hallway past the bathrooms, she didn't know how they had moved that far back, but the music was significantly quieter and there were less people around.

He kept stepping towards her until he was a foot away. "I um, came here with friends." She managed to get out, proud of herself for stringing together a coherent sentence.

He didn't miss the slight slur to her voice. "Hm, pretty hard to get in 'ere."

She could tell he was fishing and she briefly considered trying to pull away from him. As if reading her mind, but simply seeing her thoughts written clearly on her face, he placed his palms flat against the wall on either side of her head, not allowing any escape. She glanced around in hopes someone would help her, but to the outside, they simply looked like a couple about to make out against the wall of a club. Nothing out of the ordinary.

His eyes bore down on her, studying her intensely. Allison was happy for the alcohol clouding her mind and keeping her body relaxed. "What do you want?" She finally got the courage to meet his gaze. "You can't kill me in a crowd full of people." She tried to gesture around put only managed to brush where his shirt rested against his hard abdomen, as he took a step closer to her, bending his arms, causing her to blush and look down for a moment before she met his gaze. A mischievous look glinted in his eye told her that he was dangerous enough to kill her right there, and with his connections, get away with it.

A lopsided smirk formed on his lips and she saw a glimmer of pearly white teeth behind his full lips. He let out a chuckle that she shouldn't have found as attractive as he had. His minty breath washed over her over heated face. "S'much like ya mama." Her brows furrowed in confusion. "Talkin' ya way outta presumed death." He crouched down so she wouldn't have to strain to meet his gaze and leaned his body in to her, so close she could feel the body heat radiating off of him, but he didn't touch her. And she didn't know if she wanted him to or not.

He continued, never breaking his stare. "Ya handle it like it's orderin' lunch or sum shit." She simply shrugged, he wasn't getting at anything just stating facts. _Who the hell is he to tell me how I'm supposed to avoid getting shot my some gang? Clearly my way worked. _

She narrowed her eyes. "You still haven't told me what you want. My friends are probably looking for me." She pulled her dress down slightly from where it had rode up her thighs. His eyes followed her movement and he smirked.

"Jus' wonderin' what suburban mama's perfect honors undergrad is doing at an inner city club. Don't ya got siblings to teach long division to? Mama's been working pretty hard lately." Her brows creased at that. _What does he mean? She only did that last job, then she told her that her and the girls were done. _

He raised a brow, when she didn't say anything. After blinking a couple times and organizing her thoughts. "My friend's older brother is friends or works with owner or something, I don't know. But he put his name on a list." She didn't understand why he wanted to know this.

He looked deep in thought, like he wasn't even looking at her, but through her. When his eyes returned to hers, he was all business. "What friend?" _Oh hell no._ His eyes glanced around them and his arms tightened.

She scowled at him. "Why does it matter? You want me to leave the club your little gang is posted up in?" He smirked. "Fine, I'm gone. You already ruined my night anyway." She made to walk away from him, but he pinned her firmly between his body and the wall, stopping her movements. His hands shot to her curved waist, ensuring she stayed firmly planted in her position.

She gasped slightly, before she could force a glare to her face. He smirked at the deep blush that creeped up her neck, and knew it wasn't just from the alcohol flowing through her blood. "Ya ain't goin' anywhere, sweetheart." There was a growl to the accented tone of his voice. So couldn't stop herself from closing her eyes and needing to take a deep breath to calm her racing heart. The air was hot around them, the tension thick. His thumbs ran over her flat stomach, daring her to argue with him.

Trying to ignore the tingling sensations the motions of his fingers were causing her, she resolved to not take the bait, it would only further amuse him, and extend their little encounter. She wasn't sure how much longer she could control her bodies more primal instincts and through her drunk mind, do something she would surely regret with this clearly dangerous man. "Please let me go." She spoke breathlessly, he almost wondered if he'd heard her correctly.

"That really what ya want darlin'?" He pulled his face away from hers slightly allowing her space to breath. She let out a breath she had been holding. He didn't remove his hands from her, but he stopped his finger's movements, she was greatful for the small amount of space he gave her. Being able to think more clearly without him in her face.

He raised a brow and threw her a crooked smile, waiting to her to respond. _Stupid tequila making me fucking horny, why did I let Megan talk me in to tequila? _Against her better judgement, every bone in her body, she shook her head in response to his question. A full smile pulled on to his face that she could look away from. It was beautiful and the way his lips pulled over his teeth.

His hand pulled up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before running the back of his thumb along her collarbone and jaw. The sigh of contempt that escaped her lips when he touched her, made something in his heart crack open. "So what do ya want, sirenita?" _How the hell did my question get turned back around on me? And what was up with that word? _

She looked up at him through her lashes and was met with the harsh blackness of his own. She could see the lust, the anger that always seemed to sit just below the surface. As much as she may have been attracted to this man, he was trouble, like real trouble. "I want you to let me and my friends enjoy the rest of our night." He laughed. She frowned and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Please."

For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to deny her pleas. He looked at her for a long time, not saying anything. When he finally spoke he did so he ran his hands down her curves and pulled away from. "As you wish." A shiver ran up her spine as his hands left her body. He tilted his head, allowing her to walk away from him.

Allison was able to find her friends around the bar. They had managed to snag a couple seats, while everyone else stood around them, drink in hand. "Allie!" Megan's voice screamed over the music. She stumbled in to her friend.

She was greeted by everyone else. And after offering a loose explanation for where she had been, she sipped on the beer Chase had given her and decided to make the most of the rest of the night. A couple songs later, Liam pulled her in to him, brushing off a girl that was blatantly flirting with him, and held a small white pill in front of her eyes. She playfully rolled her eyes and looked at him. "That better be pure molly and not some mixed ecstasy shit."

Liam smirked at her. "Pressed the pills from crystal myself. Pure as it comes chicá." She took a sip of beer and figured it had been a while since she touched a hard drug, and she didn't have anything to do the next day so she could recover with a fattening breakfast and bloody Mary's. "Open up." She obliged and he placed the white pill on to her tongue. She quickly took a sip of beer before the bitter taste could stay in her mouth. She smiled in thanks for the night she was about it have. When she turned away from him, wanting to check in with the girl's she caught _his_ eyes from where he sat in his section. From the intensity in his eyes, she could tell that he had been watching her. His eyes narrowed, she simply raised a beer to him and turned back towards her friends.

An hour later, Allison was dancing to the music, drunk, rolling on molly. Her entire body felt alive as waves of pleasure coursed through her. After a fast song, she was starting to feel the waves come more intensely. She told the girls she was going to the bathroom to splash water on her face and made her way, swaying as she was shoved my other clubbers.

After a few minutes, the quiet of the bathroom and the cold water she splashed on her face and chest made her feel better. She pulled her phone out of the waistband and used for running that held all her valuable and what she would need for the night. It blended in easily with the dress. _12:01. Fuck. _She still had three more hours until bar close, there's no way she could convince her very fucked up friends who were clearly having a good time to leave, she didn't want to ruin their night either. She was rolling too hard to be at a club. She decided that she would just get an Uber back to the condo and wait for them to come back. She could lay in a bed and ride it out comfortably.

Allison pushed herself out of the bathroom only to be met with the gangbanger, he leaned casually against the wall. The room was already becoming blurry as she felt another intense way come. She tried to walk past him, but he grabbed her and pinned her to the wall. She gave no resistance, put up no fight, simply let him position her. _Damn that feels good. _She let out a groan that quickly turned in to a moan, a wave of drug induced euphoria flooded through her. Sparks littered her skin where his hands had grazed. "What did he give you?" His low voice came out in a growl. _Oh that voice. _

She slowly opened her eyes and was met with an angry look on his sharp face, she swore she saw a hint of worry, but shook it off. Her head rolled back and forth against the wall as she tried to gather her thoughts, breathing through the intense sensations. He suddenly grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him once again. "Tell me wha'ya took, please darlin'." He stared into her heavily dilated pupils with a scowl on his face. His eyes ran over her flushed cheeks, the slight movement of her bottom lip as her teeth rolled along it.

She let out a breath feeling a little better but still immensely overheated. The music pounded in the background. "It was just some molly. I'm fine." She dragged her hands up her body and moved her hair away from her neck, liking the cool air that hit the skin.

He scoffed. "Ya, okay." Sarcasm coated in his accent, he let his hands drop from her. She tried not to frown at the coldness she felt when his hands left her, but he saw it.

She was annoyed and done with his condescending attitude. "I'm leaving anyway."

He glanced over his shoulder before looking back at her. "Friends don't seem too keen on leavin' anytime soon."

"Alone." She let a sigh, not having enough strength of mental coherence to keep up a front for the mysterious gang leader. "I'm rolling too hard, and I'm still on the front end of it. I don't think I can keep drinking and dancing for three hours."

She had expected him to give her some berating remark, but instead he just nodded his head in understanding. "Ya ain't drivin'." His voice was clipped, she heard it as a question but something about his underlying tone, made the command sound loud and clear.

Her head shook immediately. "I'll just Uber, or walk, it's only like a mile from here." Her breathing started getting heavy as she felt another wave slowly coming on. She slumped against the wall closed her eyes, trying to block out the pounding bass. His hand shot to her side to steady her. He simply watched her as she breathed through the rush.

Her skin was shining with a thin sheen of sweat, it made her look like she was glowing against the lights, everything shimmering except what the little black dress covered. He resisted the urge to run his tongue along her salty skin around the two orbs of her exposed chest. Instead, he reached his hand towards hers, letting the tips of his fingers trail over the back of her hand, up her wrist, forearm, and all the way up along her collarbone, until he rested his palm against the side of her neck. She let out a moan of approval and a deep sign, enjoying the enhanced sensations.

"Look at me." His voice was deep voice and he ran his thumb slowly over her the planes of her neck. She slowly lifted her lids and brought his face in to focus. It was like she had tunnel vision on his form, nothing else was around them. She knew it was the drugs clouding her mind, but in that moment, he was the most gorgeous specimen she had ever seen.

His eyes were so deep she could get lost in them. For the first time she didn't see a harsh mask, sure the danger was still lurking at the surface, but she could see something else, a different side she couldn't recognize. His thumb ran up her chin and pulled her bottom lip from where it was nestled between her teeth. "Tell me to stop."

Even if she wanted to, she wouldn't have been able to form words. It was like she was in a trance, the only thing on her mind was how it felt when he touched her. When she didn't say anything pressed his body against hers making her wetness flood in to her panties. He tilted her head to the side and placed a hot open mouthed kiss at the side of her neck. She let out a small squeak as his tongue shot out and traced patterns along her skin.

"Oh god." An intense wave crashed over her.

"God 'aint here babe." He mumbled in to her neck before he continued his assault on her neck, nipping and sucking in various places. Enjoying finding the spots that would cause a shiver to run through her, or bring a deep moan through her throat.

She wanted to know his name, she wanted to hear hers coated in his accent. "Who is?" She got out in a gasp.

He pulled away and met her slowly opening eyes. "Rio." _Rio, suits him_.

Allison was about to push herself towards him, needing to feel his lips against her own. "Hey get off of her!" Megan's voice came sounding through the hallway outside the bathrooms. Her friend's voice sobered her up slightly, and coming down from the wave she was riding helped. She pushed against Rio's chest and he let her pull away from him to face the girls that interrupted them. His eyes narrowed as he saw the four men trailing behind them.

"Hey guys, don't worry, I'm fine." She stepped towards her friends and he fought against the desire to pull her back to him.

"You're fucked up Al." Chase stepped towards her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, glaring at the man that had just had her pressed up against the wall.

Allison watched as Rio's posture changed drastically. His eyes turned to stone, his body was rigid, and he was staring intently at where Chase was touching her. She felt the need to pull away from her friend simply because it was pissing Rio off. "He botherin ya Allie?"

A cruel smile pulled at Rio's lips. Allison looked around noticing that some of his guys had started moving towards them. She knew she needed to deescalate the situation before she got her friends in to something because of her fucked up self. She pulled away from Chase and moved around Liam to stand between Rio and the group. She shot him a pleading look hoping he would stay calm, before turning back to her friends.

"Relax guys, I'm seriously fine." She had to concentrate hard to make this convincing. "It's cool, I know him." She glanced over her shoulder slightly and noticed Rio raise a brow. "He um, works with my mom. Let's just go get another round." _Technically not a lie. _Her friends all gave her skeptical looks, but nodded, everyone walked away except for Chase, and Liam.

Rio had come to stand directly behind her before she could step towards her friends. He trailed a finger down her exposed spine until he reached the fabric starting on her lower back. He tugged it towards himself slightly, enough for her to get the message, he would let her friends walk away, but he wouldn't let her, at least not yet.

She nodded her head fractionally before stepping forward and placing a big smile on her face. "You got have your phones on you right?" The nodded. She let out a breath. "I'm just going to meet you back, I need to chill for a minute."

Chase shook his head and moved towards her. "I'll bring ya back if you're rolling to hard Al." He rested a hand on her overheated arm and she shot him a tight smile. "Geez you're burning. Come on we'll make some food, get hydrated, late night tv." She couldn't help but consider simply ignoring Rio and going with her friend. Chase was always there for her, for the past two years. She had no doubt he would make sure she was safe and relaxed for the rest of the night. But she couldn't ignore the way the situation could have escalated were she were to piss off the very dangerous gang banger in a club he is definitely familiar with, and guys with guns thirty feet away. When Allison didn't answer, Chase shifted his gaze from her to the man who stood a few feet back.

Rio's eyes narrowed at the boy, he kept an amused look on his face, but his eyes burned in an underlying dominance. Allison could feel the tension in the air as her friend glared above her head at the intimidating man. Chase made a move to pull her in to him, but it only caused the older man to close the distance between them. He wasn't touching her, but she could feel him at her back. She placed her hand on Chase's chest, preventing him from approaching the violent gang banger anymore and pulled her arm away. "I'll meet up with you guys later, enjoy the rest of the night. This club's lit." She forced a laugh.

Chase did drop his hands from her, but he didn't step back. "Al, seriously, you wouldn't let us leave Megan in some downtown club with…" He nodded his head towards the man behind her. "Shit happens." _Yeah shit's about to happen if I piss of the gangbanger…Rio. _

Allison appreciated her friend's concern, Chase was one of the good ones. As much as his friends could be the testosterone filled frat boys they were, he actually had a good heart, respected women. She quickly wrapped her arms around her friend and pulled away before he could reciprocate. Moving next to Rio, she met Chase's disappointed gaze. "I love you guys, I'll see you later, just text me okay?" Chase shot one last glare at the man next to her before shaking his head and walking away.

She frowned at his retreating form. _Yeah I'm gonna need to apologize to him. _Allison let out a long breath before turning to look at Rio. He held a smug smile on his face which caused her to scoff. "I just didn't want you to shoot him."

He smiled and tilted his head back, gesturing to the hallway that led past the two bathroom doors. It was so dimly lit, she didn't even realize there was a long hallway down there before. His hand came to rest on her warm back, leading her. "Are we even supposed to be back here."

"You 'aint." He chuckled. She stopped walking and turned to look at him. The low lighting hitting his tan and casting shadows while highlighting all of his best features. Her mouth went dry and her subconsciously ran her eyes over him, her ears pounding and vision changing slighting as another wave started to build.

She looked at him in question. "And you are?"

He matched her smirk, tilting his head, before pulling her towards one of the doors that lined the hallway. He quickly typed in a code on the electronic key pad attached to the lock. He opened the door and they were met with a low lit, inviting room. There was a sofa and two arm chairs, a bar lining the back of the wall and a large flatscreen which showed the security feed over the dance floor and bar.

She suddenly realized that coming with him may not have been the best idea. They were away from the public in a secluded location. Alone. She suddenly froze after taking a couple steps in to the room. He looked at her curiously, but otherwise stepped around her and made his way to the bar in the back corner of the room. He poured himself a drink and took a sip before he noticed she still hadn't moved, he could tell she was shaking slightly and there was a deep frown on her face. "Relax Allison." A shiver of pleasure shot through her hearing him say her name. "Ya need some water?"

She just nodded and moved further in to the room to sit on the couch. She leaned back, feeling relaxed by the soft texture of the couch and the much quieter atmosphere. _Damn Liam got some intense molly. _"What is this place?"

Rio chuckled and moved to join her on the couch. He handed her a glass of ice water, and she took it gratefully, takin generous sips. "Handle business here occasionally." She wanted to ask what kind of business, but she figured she wouldn't get a straight answer. She was studying him, he was doing the same. "How ya feelin'?"

She shrugged, ignoring the flutter in her heart at the thought he cared about her wellbeing. "It's coming and going in waves."

He nodded and lifted his drink to his lips. "How it goes. Ya can ride it out here." His gaze lingered on her thighs where her dress had ridden up from sitting up. "If ya want." He shot her a lopsided smile.

She scrunched her brows and smiled slightly. "Do I have a choice?"

He let out a bellowing laugh. "I 'aint really in the game of kidnapping college girls, sweetheart."

"Just killing people right?" Not being able to hold his gaze or see the reaction, she let out a groan as she felt another wave come over her. Reaching down with her free hand, she pulled off her heels and tucked her feet under her feeling relief from the uncomfortable heels. He watched her in amusement as she placed her elbow on the armrest and rested her head on her hand. Closing her eyes to let out small moan. He saw her fingers tense around the glass and her toes curl as she rolled her bottom lip in between her teeth. Something that made Rio want to pull it between his own and make her toes curl in another way.

He slid down the couch after placing his barely touched drink on the coffee table. She rolled her head to the side and looked at him lazily. His arm rested on the couch cushion behind her. "Are you going to kiss me again?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

He smirked and shook his head before looking at the tv screen. "Nah darlin'." She frowned, not realizing how much his words affected her. Her eyes moved away from him, feeling self conscious. His arm pulled down allowing his fingers to push her face off of her hand and towards him. She sat up straighter, not realizing how close they had gotten. Her shoulder was tucked in the nook of his arm. "That wa'nt no kiss."

Her brows creased. Before she could blink he connected his lips with her own. She gasped in surprised and he took the opportunity to completely dominate her mouth with his own. He explored every inch of her mouth with his tongue. She was breathless by the time he pulled her bottom lip between his teeth, nipping and sucking on it. She let out a moan, as she bit softly on his upper.

She let go of any inhibition, alcohol and drugs to blame. The only thing on her mind being the dangerously attractive man next to her. He finally released his grip on her lip and pushed his full lips against hers. His fingers trailed along her jaw and grazed the planes of her neck before cupping the side and pushing her gently in to the couch. His lips inched away from her and he met her clouded eyes with pure lust. Rio's eyes swept over her face, her summer tan was still fresh on her skin giving her a warm glow. Her hazel eyes looked nearly blue, framed simply by darkened thick lashes. Any color from her lips was long gone and his eyes lingered on her slightly swollen lip. Her breathing was coming heavily as she another wave of drug induced euphoria washed over her. _He might not shoot me, but this man sure is killing me. _

Allison tried to push herself back towards him, but his hand held her firmly in place. A shiver shot up her spine as his eyes traveled lower on her body. Her thighs clenched together trying to alleviate the throbbing that had been building, glad her legs were still tucked underneath her. "You want this?" She nodded as much as she could with his hand around her neck. "Say it." The growl in his voice caused another jolt of pleasure to flow through her.

"Yes." A small smirk formed on her lips that made his dick twitch in his jeans. And as much as he wanted to bend her over the couch right then and there, he knew her consent was empty. His mind flashed to the memory of her friend placing the small white pill in her mouth, the numerous drinks she had consumed.

Incredibly horny, and annoyed at his lack of action, she pushed herself towards him, threw a leg over his lap, and straddled him. Her hands ran up his chest, enjoying the feel of his hard torso and wrapped around the back of his head, playing with the short hair. His hands immediately responded, running all over her body, she felt him everywhere.

She pressed herself against the growing bulge becoming present in his dark jeans. A flood of adrenaline coursed through her knowing that she was getting this reaction out of him. He pulled away and trailed kisses down her neck adding to the already darkening marks he had already left on her neck, liking the idea of marking her.

"Mmm Rio." He growled in to her neck making her clench her thighs around him.

He continued for a few more moments before pulling away and looking at her. She was breathless. Her loose waves were a mess from where he hand tangled his hands in the unique and perfect locks. "How that molly treating ya now?" His hands traveled down her sides, sending shivers up her spine.

She narrowed her eyes at his cocky tone. He was so sure of himself, it was infuriating, how he thought he was all that, but equally as sexy. His hands stopped to rest on the top of her spread thighs, he toyed with the bottom of her dress which was already dangerously far up her thighs. He raised a brow and held her gaze as his hands moved to graze along her inner thighs. She tried to keep her mind in focus, but he was making her feel good, so good. "Good." She barely managed to get that out.

He chuckled. "That'so?" She bit her lips and looked away from him, his cock twitched. His hands fingers continued to travel up her inner thighs to the edge of her lace thong. "How good, mí sirenita."

She was about to open her mouth to answer when she a fist slammed against the door roughly. Allison jumped slightly as he groaned, his fingers just coming to feel the wetness seeping through her panties. "Yo Boss." A burly voice came through the door. She heard him mumble something in Spanish and was only able to pick out the name Carlos. He then gently lifted her off of his lap and set her on the couch cushion next to him. He adjusted himself as he strode to the door.

Pulling it open in annoyance the large white man that had held a gun to her mothers head, came in to Allison's view.

"What?" Rio bit out harshly.

The man smirked slightly amused as he took in the room. "Felix called, it's all set, he ready for us."

He shot a look towards Allison before he nodded at his right hand man. Rio nodded and shot a sideways look at her before turning back too Carlos. "You boys handle it, I'm tired of dealin' con los piche gilipollas." His tone was all business, left no room for argument. It was intimidating.

The man pulled the door closed behind him, as Rio turned back to look at her. He shot her a smile, but his features were hard, business and danger brewing under the surface. "I gotta bounce." She nodded in understanding, moving to stand up, she swayed slightly, bracing herself against the arm rest. She groaned and tried to get the room in front of her to focus. "Woah there sweetheart." She saw his form come to stand in front of her and gently push her to sit back down on the couch. He crouched down in front of her and pushed the hair away from her heated face. Her eyes stayed squeezed shut and she clenched her teeth at the waves of euphoria waved over her. He let out a Spanish swear word as he glance around him, taking not of the pounding music coming softly through the walls. He moved and slipped his arm around her back. "Come're, darlin'." Her head rolled against his shoulder, she could feel the hard muscles against her cheek. "I'm brinin' ya home, gotta make it quick."

She couldn't turn down the ride, she wasn't even sure she could stand outside and wait for an Uber for an extended period of time. "My friend's place is only like a mile from here." She moaned out.

His demeanor changed and she felt his muscles tighten. "I ain't brinin' ya there." Her eyes narrowed and as her mind became a little clearer, she opened her mouth to argue. "Ya mama's house. Or figure it out ya self." He looked at her impatiently as she weighed her options, before resigning with a nod. Mostly not wanting to be left alone, she had no idea if her friends were still there. As soon as he had her affirmation, he pulled her to her feet and picked up her heels, pushing them in to her hands. She slipped them on and adjusted to the added height. He pulled her towards the door, supporting her weight easily.

They exited out the back of the club and he led her to a sleek black Cadillac with heavily tinted windows. She started laughing. _Of course he'd drive a car just as ominous and mysterious as he was. _He shot her a funny look as he pulled open the passenger door and guided her in to the front seat. After slamming her door and getting in the drivers seat, he started the car, and sped out of the back lot so fast she fumbled with her seatbelt.

She felt another wave start and she groaned trying to keep her mind focused. "Why can't you just bring me to my friend's?" She pulled her phone out and looked at the time, it was almost two in the morning. She could see she had multiple texts, but the drugs made her unable to focus on the screen. When he didn't say anything she started to get annoyed and regretted getting in the car with him in the first place. Now that she was in the warm quiet space. "It's closer."

"Ya want me to dump you with the same kids that got ya this fucked up?" He threw a harsh look at her.

She scowled. "No one got me fucked up, I chose to drink, chose to swallow that pill." His hands tightened on the wheel and he let out a controlled breath.

"The people ya surround yourself with…"

"That's hilarious coming from you."

"You right, that don't make it false."

He ignored her and weaved along the city streets, towards the highway. His phone suddenly started ringing. He cursed and held it to his ear. "What?"

"Rio, we need ya here man." Carlos' voice came through the phone. Allison had to strain to make it out.

He cursed and took a deep breath before he pulled a very illegal U-turn that made the cars around them honk. Allison gripped on her seat at the sudden movement. "Hang tight, I'm ten out." He then hung up the phone and slammed his fist against the wheel. "Fuck." She jumped slightly at the drastic change of atmosphere. She didn't say anything, too scared or nervous to.

After a couple minutes, she noticed them heading in to a particularily sketchy part of town. "Where are we going?"

Her soft voice broke him out of his thoughts. He looked over at her for a long moment before turning his eyes back to the road and speaking in a casual voice. "Gotta handle sumthin'."

Her heart sunk in fear. The way he said handle unnerved her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as another less intense, and more manageable wave of euphoria washed over her. Allison mustered up the courage to turn to him. "You can just drop me off, I'll get a cab." As she was sobering up she was becoming increasingly more anxious about her situation. _Why the hell did I ditch my friends? Why did I makeout with this guy? He held a gun to my face, was ready to give the order to kill mom. _

He gave her an amused look and the corner of his mouth twitched up. "Yeah?" He didn't make any attempt to slow down or stop until they pulled to a stop sign. "Ya wan' me to let ya out'ere princessa?" She looked around at the run down streets. There were barely any cars on the streets, definitely no cabs. "An' lookin' like that?" He stayed parked at the stop sign and gestured his hand towards the exposed skin on her chest and torso. _In a luxury car with a gangbanger I had made out with, or risk getting raped or killed on the run down streets of Detroit. _

He noticed the determinated look on her face fade and smirked in triumph. The car jerked forward as he sped in to a warehouse district. He weaved through the array of buildings until various parked cars with people standing outside of them, the very distinct groups, came in to view. "Why did you bring me here?" Her voice was laced in fear and she hugged her arms around herself, gripping her phone, ready to call 911.

Rio parked the car significantly farther away from the others, that she was greatful for. He turned to her and looked at her seriously. He looked lethal, like something ticked in him, that turned gang mode on. "Do not move." His voice was cold as ice and deathly serious. "Don't care what ya see, can't handle it, don't look." His eyes glanced to where her hand clutched on to her phone. "And don't call no body." She simply looked at him, her mind reeling in questions and another wave of euphoria hitting her making him look so much more attractive. She had to blink and look away to keep her mind on track. "Allison…" His voice growled, as he glanced outside the car. Her lips parted and she looked up at him, the sound of her name rolling off of his tongue was like music to her ears. "Ya feel me right?" She nodded. "Gotta say it, sweetheart."

"Yea, I get it. I won't look, I won't move, I won't call anybody." She said looking him in the eye. He searched her face for any sign of dishonesty, but found none, and simply nodded once before exiting the car. He left it running and the headlights on, she hoped that meant this would be fast. He pulled something, she couldn't recognize, out of the trunk and tucked it under his arm, and moving swiftly towards where the group stood. Everyone's body language shifted towards him.

Allison couldn't help but watch in fascination as all the men seemed to move around Rio. The three guys on the other end of the deal stood tensely, while his boys took the money scanner and picked up the duffle that was sitting on the ground between the two groups. They started scanning the money while two of Rio's other guys pulled guns on the trio.

She wished she could have heard what words were being said. Her eyes were trained on Rio, the way he moved, the way his head tilted up when he spoke, asserting dominance. Suddenly he reached in to the waistband on his jeans and pulled out a gold gun, he twirled it around in his hand while the two men continued speaking.

Rio's attention was pulled by his guys handling the cash on the hood of a car. There was a silent conversation between them and immediately, without hesitation, Rio turned back to the man standing in the middle of the trop, lifted the gun and shot right between his eyes. She wanted to close her eyes, look away from the scene, but she couldn't. It was like watching a car accident. The seconds moved by slowly. The man fell to the ground and Rio's head snapped towards the car, exactly where Allison was looking at him. It was like he could feel her eyes on him. It nearly made him hesitate. She jumped and closed her eyes as she heard two more distinct gunshots taking care of the other two guys. _Holy shit._

When she finally looked up she saw Rio talking to his guys before they started making their way over, duffle bags of cash, and guns in hand. Allison took a few calming breaths and tried not to let the fact that she just saw three people murdered in front of her eyes. It was easier said than done, but at least her mind had sobered up significantly.

Allison could hear their muffled voices from where they were loading up the trunk. "Get sum guys down here ta clean dis shit up now. Make sure nothin' else goes ta shit tonight." His voice was stressed.

"She's in there idn't she?" One of the large white men's voice came.

Rio slammed the trunk hard enough to make the entire car shake. "Got a way ta wash this low level cash." She saw him shrug in the rear view mirror.

The man scoffed. "Cuz ya knew those idiots were gonna throw us paper." Sarcasm laced his words.

"Fuck off Billy." His tone left no room for discussion and he moved to get in the drivers seat. The man, Billy, walked away from the car back towards the rest of the guys.

He immediately put the car in drive and sped away from the recent crime scene. The tension in the air was suffocating. Allison couldn't stand sitting in it anymore. "Could've warned me you were gonna cap somebody." She let out a forced laugh.

She expected his lips to at least twitch but his face didn't change, his eyes remained trained on the streets ahead of them. "Told ya not ta look, 'fya couldn't handle it." _True. Why didn't I look away. _Oh she had sure tried, but for some reason she couldn't take his eyes off of him. The way his posture was so relaxed as he pulled the trigger without hesitation. Only then did she finally realize how close her and her family had been to death a week ago.

She smirked. "I didn't say I couldn't handle it."

His shoulders rolled back and she watched as the tension slowly eased from his body. He turned to look at her as the pulled up to a red light near the ramp to the highway. "That'so?"

She shrugged. "You had a gun pointed at me not too long ago. I'm honestly just even more relieved you didn't shoot _me_. Clearly seeing how easy it is for you."

His brows creased slightly before he placed an indifferent, cocky mask on his face. "An' why'ld I wanna put a bullet in that pretty face of 'urs."

He shot her a lopsided smirk that made heat pool in her abdomen. "Maybe because I just witnessed you commit a felony?" _Why am I giving him reasons to kill me?... Maybe I just want to know why he hasn't. _

She expected him to become angry at the threat of feds on him, but he just laughed. "There ain't gone be no evidence of nothin' in a few hours." He was so sure, so sure of himself. So sure of his abilities, confidence exuded off of him. He was in control of every situation.

She shook her head knowing that he could very easily send her mother and aunt to prison for a long time if he was caught. "I don't really like our justice system much anyway." She mumbled and picked at her nails.

He raised a brow and stole a glance at her. Her hair fell forward covering most of her face, and he wanted nothing more than to push it to the side so he could see her. "Why's dat?"

Allison took a deep breath and met his gaze, putting a small smile on her face. "Hmm, where to start. The prison industrial complex, the judicial corruption, police corruption, legalized murder, taking kids from their mother's and putting them in cages. Legal doesn't always equal moral, and illegal doesn't always mean criminal." He took a moment to take in her words. He was impressed by the way she thought, her macro-perspective. It was a nice change.

His eyes washed over her in a way that made her feel like the only woman in the world. "Ya know, you never answered my question the other day." Her brows creased as he turned down her street and slowed the car down. "What would you do, with an endless supply of cash?"

They pulled up in front of her house. The suburban street was so quiet. It was nearly three in the morning and this block was covered in kids. She would have been surprised if anyone on the street was actually awake. He put the car in park next to the curb, across the street from her driveway.

Her mind immediately began flashing with everything she had learned over the past few years about the world, how fucked up it is. Her eyes met his, an intense and determined look in them. This was the side of her that made him tick, it made him want to draw it out of her in every moment. These Boland women definitely had different sides to them. "I'd change everything."

His lips ticked at her words, not the answer he was expecting, though he wasn't sure what to expected from her. "You gonna explain that one?"

Allison smiled widely at him and shook her head. "Intellectual property, the one thing no one can take from you, just as long as it stays in your head." Just when he didn't think he could be more surprised by what she had to say, every time she opened her mouth, she surprised him, wrapping him tighter around her finger than he could realize.

When he didn't say anything, lost in his thoughts, she fidgeted under his intense gaze. "So um my mom." His brows creased at the subject change. "She didn't get out, she's still doing jobs for you?" His lips twitched and he affirmed her question. "What do you want her to do with that cash?" His brows rose "I heard you and your…friend."

He let out a short laugh. "Ya girls 'posed a way to change my game." She looked at him questioningly. "Some buyin' returnin' bullshit." He shrugged. "Cleans ma money."

She glanced back towards the truck of his car. "But that's not your cash, you could tell it was fake, can't the stores?" She didn't want her mother to run any higher risk of getting caught.

He laughed and shook his head. "Nah, dat paper's 'bout as good as mine."

She narrowed her eyes. "But you don't know for sure it will work like yours does?"

He let his eyes run over her, she was too smart for her own good. "Nuthin comes with a guarantee."

She met his intense gaze. "Fifty percent." His brows shot up wondering what she was referring to. "It's higher risk, and they deserve the money. You still have whatever you were selling them." He had to admit, she had balls, having just seen him shoot a man, and was now negotiating, rather weakly, even worse he couldn't stop himself from actually considering it.

His jaw clenched more in frustration with himself, then anger at her request. "Ya think ya mama gets four time's what she been gettin', cuz dat idiot tried to screw me. I ain't see ya girls pulling no triggers."

She held her ground. "Also buys my silence."

"I ain't gotta buy no one's silence." His eyes darkened dangerously, like a snake about to strike its prey. "I shut em up for good." She closed her eyes and nodded, before looking down submissively then met his eyes once again.

She took deep breaths to calm her racing heart. "Fifty percent, just this one time, just for this cash, we'll bring half of it back clean."

"We? Ya gettin' in a life of crime now too?" His tone lightened.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "My mom pays my tuition, least I can do is help her keep our house." His bottom lip pouted out and he shrugged. "So we have a deal?"

He leaned towards her so close, she thought he was going to kiss her. He simply lifted his hand to push her hair behind her ear and ran his eyes down her face. "Si, mi sirenita." He let his lips brush against hers before he pulled away and exited the car, rounding back to the trunk.

She was so shocked. She took a few moments before she was able to exit the car on shaky legs and approach his trunk. There were several large duffles and a tarp covering unknown items in the back end. He placed two black duffles on the ground between them and pulled the trunk closed.

She looked up at him, the only think illuminating them was the dim street light. His ran over her body and he memorized every inch of her one last time before kicking the bags slightly towards her. "Three weeks, wash half, don't give a fuck what ya do with the rest."

"Why?" She questioned, confused as to why he was giving her such a generous deal.

He took a deep breath through his nose. "Allison. Just get me my money." He growled out before getting in his car and speeding off down the road.

She gaped after him until the car was no longer in view. She lifted up the heavy bags and made her way in to her house. She made it to the kitchen before she heard their golden retriever bounding down the stairs. _Dammit don't wake the kids up. _She lifted the bags one by one on to the kitchen island and stared at them, lost in her thoughts.

"Allison?" Her mother's tired voice called from the hallway.

"Yeah it's just me." She said, figuring her mother would be worried about a gang showing up unexpectedly.

Beth made her way in to the kitchen and took in her daughter's appearance and the two black bags that sat on the table. "I thought you were on campus for the night." Her voice was wary.

Allison let out a deep sigh. "Yeah we uh, went out in the city." She scratched the back of her neck remembering the events of her night. "I saw R-, that gang guy."

Beth rushed towards her daughter, worried. "What? Did he do something? What happened?"

"Chill mom. I'm fine." She decided to omit most of the night. "I know your washing money for them." Beth wanted to deny it. "I got you a better deal. Just for this time." She pushed the duffle across the island towards where her mother stood. Her mother's brows shot up in surprise. "He wants it in three weeks."

Beth let out a long breath, frustrated that her daughter had been pulled in to this. "I'm sorry sweetie."

Allison looked at her mother, she had never seen her look so stressed. The reality of her home life was crashing on her. They were barely keeping their heads above water financially, a stupid decision got them mixed up with a gang, and now they were getting in deep. "Mom." She moved to place her hand on her mother's arm. Beth met her daughter's gaze. She could tell she was at least drunk, but at that moment she didn't put on the mom pants about alcohol poisoning. "It's all gonna be fine. We're gonna be fine. We just have to wash his money."

Beth nodded at this, feeling pride for the young woman her daughter had grown in to. "How much is it?" She looked warily at the bags.

"I don't know." Allison answered honestly, before letting out a yawn she couldn't suppress. "We should talk to Annie and Ruby."

Beth nodded. "Tomorrow."

Allison then made her way upstairs and barely got her uncomfortable dress off before she collapsed on her bed in exhaustion.


	4. Chapter 4

Allison slept through the entire Sunday morning not getting up until well into the afternoon. She pulled her phone off the charger. It had almost a hundred missed calls from the friends she had gone out with last night. She quickly FaceTimed Megan and told her she was at her house, fine and asked them to swing by her house on their way back to campus so she could pick up her car. They made plans to be there in a few hours.

She groaned and rolled out of bed, immediately getting in the shower and washing the previous night off of her. Noticing that the house was completely silent as she got out of the shower, she figured her mom was off with the kids somewhere. After towel drying her body and hair. She wrapped the fluffy white towel around her and tucked it in to itself, before making her way downstairs to get a much needed cup of coffee.

She leaned against the counter and waited for her cup of coffee to brew as she answered texts and looked through pictures sent to her from last night. She gasped as she came across a picture that Alysha sent her of her pressed up against the wall of the club by Rio, he was sucking on her neck and her head was rolled to the side. A look of sure contentment and a small smile on her face. She saw it on the school's anonymous blog, followed by a string of comments.

Not sure how long she was staring at the picture remembering all of last night, she looked up as she heard the back door slam open. Her hand immediately slammed the phone face down on the counter. She gasped as two of Rio's guys she recognized as Carlos and Billy carried an unconscious bleeding teenager in to her house. Rio trailed behind them, a shit eating grin on his face which only grew when he was what was covering her body. "Get him upstairs." Rio directed his voice in a commanding manner.

Allison shook her head, getting over the shock of them coming through that back door with someone who needed to be in the hospital. "No, no, no. Don't bring him upstairs." She tried to call after them, but they either didn't hear her or simply dismissed her instruction. She then turned to Rio, making sure her towel wouldn't move. "What are you doing here? What's with..?"

He took long strides towards her, backing her in to the fridge. "Ya mama wanted a job."

"You just gave her one." She argued. _Did he not remember the bags of fake cash he handed over?_

He shook his head and looked at her intently, any trace of humor gone. "Wasn't ya mama I distributed to." Her brows creased, surely he didn't think that she was going to wash all this money. She was a full time student, with little time as it was. "Was you darlin'." He gave her a very blatant once over. "It's _you_ I'm letting take half ma money." The words should have made her feel special, but the way he bit them out in a harsh and angry tone made it seem like he was blaming her for agreeing to a deal. In a sense he was, he found himself not wanting to deny her greatest wishes, couldn't get her happiness out his mind.

"Technically it wasn't your money." She couldn't resist correcting him, no matter how angry he may have already been.

To her surprise, his lips twitched upwards at her sassing him. He shrugged and look another set closer to her, she was now pinned between his hard muscular body and the unmoving stainless steel fridge door. "Semantics." He then brought his hand up to brush her cheek and ran his fingertips down to where several light purple marks littered her neck and collar bone, smirking at how they looked on her skin, a reminder of what put them there flashing through his mind before he brought his eyes back to look at her. "Don't change the fact ya on the hook for a quarter mil, real cash."

Her mouth opened in surprise. She figured she was just the messenger. "I'm a full time student. I don't have time to do that." His eyes flashed at her dangerously, making her regret her words. "Please." He couldn't ignore how his cock twitched slightly at her begging.

He put a relaxed look on his face. "You're a smart girl, you'll figure it out." He believed his words more than she did. Still, she nodded and moved to pull away from him. He grabbed her hips immediately, stopping her and placing her back in her original position. She gasped as her towel slid a couple inches lower showing a substantial amount of cleavage. He looked down at her hungrily. "Remember' ya asked for this, sirenita."

She was breathless, her heart felt like it was about to explode from her chest, and the way his fingers tightened and moved along her skin made her center tingle. _Dammit Allie, focus. _"I asked you to work with my mom." His hands trailed down her sides to the bottom of her towel and let his fingertips grazed her upper thighs just under her towel. He cocked his head to the side, noticing her breathing become harder and practically able to smell her arousal in the air surrounding them over her freshly washed body. His face told her that he was over her arguing, but his eyes showed the deep lust and passion that brewed under the surface.

She looked up at him with clouded eyes. "What are you going to do if I can't?" Her mind flashed to the way he effortlessly shot the man that pervious night, but she immediately repressed it.

His eyes darkened and he flashed his teeth at her. His hands were now gripping her bare hips under the towel. Though she was scared of the capabilities of the man in front of her, she couldn't help herself from arching in to him. "You'll be finding out in a few weeks if ya don't hold up your end." His thumbs circled simultaneously and grazed the sides of her freshly shaved mound. He watched every micro expression change on her face. "Don't try to cross me, darlin'." His thumbs stroked back and forth teasingly. Lust was clouding her mind, making rational thought go out the window, he was intoxicating.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the fridge, suppressing a moan. "Okay, okay." She opened her eyes and found his face much closer than it had been before, they immediately shot to his lips. The corners pulled up at this. "I'll wash your money." His fingers were dancing across her lower abdomen, succeeding in winding her up immensely. She moved her legs together and clenched her thighs to alleviate the throbbing.

He slowly ran his hands down the sides of her body before removing them completely. She immediately felt cold and wanted him to continue. He ran his fingertip from the base of her jaw, up to her chin. "Ya do that, darlin'." He then stepped away from her and looked towards the stairs where his two guys were standing. A deep blush instantly covered her entire body and she pulled her towel closer to herself, wondering how long they had been there, how long Rio knew they were there.

Rio nodded his head towards the door and the two men moved to exit. He moved to do the same but stopped as he glanced at her freshly brewed cup of coffee.

He turned around and looked at her flushed profile. "This stuff'll kill ya, ya know?" She just shrugged and looked at him incredulously. "Just like that shit ya were rollin' on last night." She frowned, she knew. Still, she nodded at his words. He gave her one last once over before following the two out her back door. She watched through the kitchen window as they rounded around the house and disappeared down the driveway.

Allison warned her mother about the man she found the men disposed of in Emma's room and changed for the day. About an hour later, her friends picked her up and she made her way to campus to pick up her car. She was also glad to have her stuff she had left at Chase's brother's back. She had to dodge some pretty grilling questions about last night, but felt like she effectively talking it down.

She got back home well after dark and was starving for some leftovers. She walked in on her stressed looking mother and aunt and Ruby. "Great, what's going on now guys?" She gave Annie a weird look as she was sitting at the bottom of the stairs with a water-gun.

The both turned to look at her as she entered. "Waiting for gunshot gang kid to wake up."

"Do we even want him to wake up?" Ruby questioned.

Beth turned to her friend. "I don't want him to die in my house."

"Ditto." Allison moved to sit next to her mom on the couch.

Beth let out a sigh. "I called Rio, that's the gang guy's name." _Yeah totally didn't already know that. _She shifted her hair making sure the marks he had left on her were covered by the hair and university long-sleeve t shirt she wore. "He's on his way, I am going to tell him to take this kid back… and his money." Beth shot a glance towards her daughter. "It's too much, we can't wash it that fast around here without drawing suspicion."

"And how do he even know if this cash is legit." Ruby chimed in.

Annie moved from the stair towards them. "Oh it's legit. I used a pen on one of the twenties at work. This shit is good."

"It's half a million dollars. We'd have to wash almost two hundred thousand a week." Beth thought about it from a logistical perspective. "Stores would notice that huge of a spike in sales and returns."

Allison thought about it. "Not if we go out of town, smaller cities have less security measures."

"But they notice more." Ruby argued.

"Maybe, but if no one goes to the same store twice, we each buy high ticket items, return them the next day using any basic excuse." She suggested.

Annie was smiling widely at her while Beth let out a sigh. "Allison, you don't need to get involved in this."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm already pretty involved." Moving to the kitchen, she pulled out leftovers to eat.

She was heating up pasta and cutting up an apple when her aunt came to stand next to her breaking her out of her thoughts. "Nice hickeys." Annie whispered in her ear. Allison turned to face her, and shrugged it off. "Heard Rio threw you the money to wash last night. Those from him?" She narrowed her eyes, wondering what her aunt was getting at.

Allison rolled her eyes. "For your information, they're from someone else. Rio found me outside the club." She knew her story was shaky because Annie didn't look like she believed her one bit.

"We are talking later." She whispered before returning to her post at the bottom of the stairs.

An hour later, she was freshly fed and standing in the chilly fall night. "That is not what I meant when I said we'd do another job." Beth directed her statement at Rio who was sitting casually on the porch steps leading to the back door. "Who is that guy?"

Allison was leaning against the armrest of the patio chair Annie occupied, Ruby sitting in the one across. "He works for me." Rio answered simply.

"There's clearly been a miscommunication." Beth expressed passionately.

Rio scoffed and shook his head. "Ah now, so ya'll think you can pick and choose what you wanna do and when you wanna do it?"

"She thought it would be like driving for Uber." Annie chimed in. I chuckled slightly making her mother glare are her. She just shrugged.

"We are not qualified to take care of a gunshot victim. That kid needs professional medical attention." Her mother continued to argue. Rio started shaking his head as she rambled. "You're shaking your head, why are you shaking your head."

He met Beth's gaze. "Cuz that kid ain't goin' to no hospital."

"Why?" Allison asked. His eyes shot over to and ran over her. It made her feel like she was only wearing the towel that she had been that morning.

"Cuz there's people lookin' for him." He responded more so to Beth.

"What if those people show up here?" _Valid point mom._

He shook his head once again. "Ain't nobody shooting up no cookie cutter family house." He then reached in to his pocked and pulled out a stack of hundred dollar bills. Allison rolled her eyes, everything was always about money. She crossed her arms and looked away from the exchange. He noted her disinterest but kept a confident smile on his face.

"No I'm sorry that is not going to work." She heard her mom argue.

He pursed his lips and shrugged. "Nah?" He then pulled out another one, and one more.

"I have children." Rio's eyes glanced over to Allison and he smirked. "He is up there in my daughter's bed, I'm never going to get that blood out." Beth expressed.

"Pretty sure it'd cover a new mattress." Ruby persuaded.

Allison turned back to watch them as Annie leaned forwards in her chair. "So would we get that money now? Or…"

His eyes moved towards the pair. "When I pick him up." Rio spoke in a deep clipped voice.

"When's that? Ruby questioned

Rio narrowed his eyes and turned towards the dark skinned woman. "When I pick him up." He spoke more forcefully.

"Sounds fair." Annie responded.

"And that five hundred thousand?" Ruby questioned. He shot an amused look at Allison.

He addressed Beth as he spoke. "Ya'll was the ones comin' to me with ya business proposition? We tried it, ya pulled through."

"That was nothing compared to half a million dollars." Ruby argued.

Rio smirked. "Ya'll asked for a piece of this."

"Very true." Annie agreed excitedly at the prospect of a bigger pay day. "She just does this, it's all part of the process."

They all soon agreed while Allison stayed silent. Rio nodded and slapped his knees as he got to his feet, before clapping his hands. "Good." He gave the older women one last look before moving towards the driveway. He brushed past Allison, giving her a blatant once over flashing her his teeth before disappearing into the night.

Beth and Ruby were already in a heated discussion about the money or the gang kid. Annie's gaze was trained intensely on her. She stood up from the seat and grabbed her arm, dragging her all the way upstairs in to her bedroom. "Annie, what are you doing?" She protested.

Her aunt didn't say anything until they were behind the closed door. "Don't bullshit me kid. You're blushing like a tomato, he's looking at you like water in a desert, and there's hickeys all over your neck." Allison rolled her eyes and looked away. "I can do the math Allie." She sighed in resignation, her aunt had been too good at reading her.

Allison ran her hands down her face in frustration. "Ugh Annie it was stupid, nothing really happened?" She raised a brow. "Seriously, first base only. He just keeps popping up and I was really fucked up drunk and…" She had to bite her tongue from accidentally releasing more information than she should.

"And what?"

She let of a long breath. "And nothing, it was stupid. C'mon Ann, ya seriously telling me that you wouldn't hit that, forgetting all the thugs and guns."

Annie let out a loud laugh. "Touché."

"Please don't tell my mom." Allison begged. "Seriously Annie, it's nothing, if anything maybe he'll hesitate killing us."

She scoffed. "He'll hesitate killing you, if we can't clean all that money. Rest of us, we're goners."

"Then we'll just have to make sure we wash it all."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

After a normal week of classes and lots of shopping, she was helping her mom with the decorations. After being pressured by an incessant twelve year old, Beth got everything to the perfect kids birthday.

There was a bouncy house in the back corner of their yard. Rows and tables and chairs lined the lawn, covered in themed colorful plastic. Allison spent the entire morning taking various games and toys out of of boxes for the kids to play with. Kenny have convinced like thirty of his classmates and their parents and siblings to our house. It was going to be a long day. Her mom had been cooking nonstop since the crack of dawn.

The kids were buzzing with excitement and as she tried to get Emma in to her dress. It took a while but she managed to do all she could to help before kids started arriving and she escaped to the second floor to change for the party. She straightened her hair and put on a short-sleeve baby blue sundress that flared out at the waist and came just above mid thigh. She put a layer of mascara and lip gloss on before slipping on her birks and making her way downstairs to join the party.

By the time she joined the kid's party, it was in full swing. Kids running around being served food and ice cream. She said hi to her aunt and Ruby and their kids before finding her own siblings. She had a tense conversation with her father at some point.

Everyone had gathered around for cake and started singing to the birthday boy. "Make a wish Kenny." Beth urged her son.

Allison was snapping pictures for her mother. "I wish daddy could live at home again." The kids went silent in confusion while the adults in awkwardness. Annie managed to brush it off and get him to blow out the candles.

Allison's stomach flipped as she saw Rio, his hands were behind his back, and he was looking down at the party from his position on the porch. She watched as his eyes ran over her, little goosebumps appeared all over her skin at the condescending, smug smile he held. The raw power that emanated off of him, stood out like a sore thumb at the kid's party. The smile, his entire look, vibe, would have looked pathetic on another man, but Rio carried it to perfection.

He had the control, the higher ground, he knew it, and he made sure everyone around him knew it too. It should have scared her, made her run the other direction and never look back. But it had the opposite effect, it was like a magnet, a constant pulling connection that she felt whenever he was near. He was like a drug, euphoric, intense, deadly. Allison was sure she didn't want to find out what would happen to her little brother's birthday party were Rio to descend from his throne of superiority. She gently nudged her mother's arm and nodded her head towards their back entrance.

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy… Daddy!" Alarm bells rang in Dean's head while Emma said the words and waved a juice box in front of his eyes, which were glued to the man with throat tattoos making way into his home.

Allison was helping Kenny with a piece of cake when she overheard her dad talking to her youngest sister. "Hey, does, um… Does Mommy ever have any, like... you know, new friends come over?" He asked as casually as his temper allowed.

"Just a man in bed. He made me breakfast but I'm not opposed to tell you that." Her childlike voice strung together the words.

Dean's eyes burned with raw fury as he watched Beth close the door behind the man. "Huh, you don't say."

Allison's eyes snapped to her father as he set Emma down and rushed after his wife. She groaned and moved to go after him, not wanting her father to piss off the man who she had seen kill with ease a week before.

Having easily caught up with her father, she followed him towards her parents bedroom on the first floor. "Dad wait." He paused and turned to look at her.

They could hear Rio's voice. "What you think this is lil league? You get a trophy just for playin'?" The way his voice flowed together instantly made her wet.

"I tried." Beth stressed.

"I don't give a damn if you tired, you gotta win bitch." Dean then shook his head and turned away from his daughter.

"Beth." Her father stepped in to the room, stopping any conversation. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She nodded.

Allison watched as Rio pulled away from her mother and moved to exit the room. He walked past Dean and patted him on the arm. "Cars huh?" Rio shook his head and looked towards Allison. His stride didn't break as he strode past her. She glanced at her parents who looked like they were about to get in to it, and decided to turn out of the room. She rushed to catch up to Rio and caught him in front of the stairs. He turned and shot her a cocky smile. "Whatchya need darlin'? Gotta find ma boy."

"I need to talk to you." She looked around warily as random parents and children walked past them. Before she thought about what she was doing, and before her parents could come out of their room, she gabbed his hand and turned towards the stairs.

Before she could make her path up the stairs, she bumped in to something, rather someone. She was met with the face of the man her mother had kept tied up in their treehouse. Her face scowled as she was eye level with his ugly facial hair. "What the fuck are you doing here?" Her hands balled in to fists in frustration, left hand stopping as she remembered that Rio's hand was still in hers. This man had tried to rape her aunt, and now he had the audacity to step foot in to her home.

Boomer gave her a once over that made her feel cold and exposed, before glancing over her head at the man behind her. He recoiled slightly at the dangerous man, but held a smug look on his face. "I brought the cake." He met Allison's glare with a smug smile.

She glanced around the entryway and living room, there were people eating cake everywhere. "Great, there's cake, now _leave_." Her teeth clenched and her face started to turn red with anger. Rio could feel her shaking slightly, causing him to become confused and angry at the store manager for upsetting her.

The older white man let out a laugh. "Was just heading out." Something about the way he said it, made her know that wasn't his true intention. Boomer nodded his head towards the back door. "Should probably wish the birthday boy my best wishes."

Her brows creased and her lips pursed at that. She let out a deep frustrating breath. Rio noticed the tension coming off her body in waves. He dropped his hand from her. Before she hand time to be disappointed, she felt him pressed up lightly against her back. His hand shot to her waist, and he stroked calming circles along her spine. "Hey!" Allison's voice stopped Boomer's attempt to turn away. She met his eyes and narrowed her threateningly. "You are going to get out of my house." He rolled his eyes defiantly, which just pissed her off more.

Something about feeling Rio on her, his strength, his power, made her feel invincible, like she could do anything as long as he was next to her. "Listen here you ugly little, middle management, underachieving, depressingly lonely, piece of shit." Boomer's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You don't talk to little brother, and if you ever so much as look at Annie the wrong way ever again…" She stepped towards Boomer and got in his face, trying not to think about the immediate absence she felt as Rio's hands fell loosely from her waist. "I'll get your rapist ass thrown in jail before you know what hit you." He didn't take her threat seriously and rolled his eyes. "Or I can finish what my mom and aunt should have done and put you in the ground, before you can stick your little worm dick in to any other unwanting women." Rio let out a deep laugh, amused, and incredibly turned on by her threat.

Rio closed the distance between himself and Allison. He put on the most threatening look he could as his fingers played absentmindedly with her straightened hair that ended at her lower back. "You heard the woman. Beat it." His head nodded towards the front door.

Boomer finally got the message and moved to exit the house. Allison let out a breath of frustration as she watched him walk out the front door. She knew Rio was threatening, but she hated how no one took her seriously, only ever seeing a pretty face. She grabbed his hand once again and pulled him up the stairs.

Initially he was annoyed, his mind on business. The view of her with her family, how normal suburban it was, the type of childhood he never had. On one hand, it disappointed him, what was he thinking? There was no way that some white girl going to the top university in the state, on track to graduate with honors, would want anything to do with him, other than an adrenaline rush. But seeing the fire in her as she threatened a man that could easily overpower her turned him on to no end. He tried to stay focused and make himself pull forcefully away, but he couldn't. She made him lose his focus because it was all shifted to her.

Allison pulled him in to her room and shut the door. "Ya wanna buy me dinner 'fore draggin' me up to ya room, sirenita?" He glanced around at the photos and momentous that decorated her room. There were trophies and medals from the various activities and sports her parents had put her through. He lingered on a few pictures of her, one at the beach, in a very revealing bikini, another from prom, her arms wrapped lovingly around her, then boyfriend.

She watched him curiously. He seemed so out of place in her high school room. A gang banger surrounded by varsity letters and trophies, girly artwork, collages of pictures. But something about him being in her room, made her want to push him on to her bed and have her way with him, even with a party full of kids downstairs. "So what was that all about?" His voice shook her out of her thoughts and she watched him gesture towards the door.

She let out an annoyed breath remembering the encounter with the creep. "He attacked my aunt." Rio's eyes narrowed at that. If there was one thing he didn't tolerate, it was a man putting his hands on a woman, he had seen too much of that growing up. "Guess my mom went all badass a bottle of whiskey." His lips twitched at this, he knew there was something behind that uptight housewife facade. "They kept him hogtied in our treehouse for a few days." He outright laughed at that. The sound made Allison smile, she wanted to hear it again. "Plus he's a creep. Don't get how he thinks a child's birthday party is a good place to show up when you have a face that practically screams pedophile." She chuckled at her own joke as Rio's lips tick upwards.

He put down a picture frame he had been glancing at and took long strides towards her, stopping a few feet away. "Funny how ya kick the store manager out ya house." His eyes ran over her dress clad form while he pulled his shirt up slightly, exposing the gold gun that was tucked in to his waistband. For some reason she didn't feel fear when she saw it, she blamed in on the fact he wouldn't dare shoot her in a house full of kids and their families, but in reality she didn't think he would shoot her at all. , at least she hoped so. "Yet ya drag _me_ upstairs."

She smirked at his drawl, the tone sending shivers down her spine. "Wasn't him I was making out in the back of a club with."

His mind flashed to that night, the taste of her on his lips, the heat radiating from her core to where she was pressed and grinding against him, the wetness that had narrowly escaped his prodding fingers. He licked his lips and closed the distance between them, until she touched the back of the door. "That why I'm up here sweetheart?" She shook her head immediately, against what her body wanted to do. She couldn't let herself get involved with the man, he was dangerous, but something about the danger intrigued her. It was like a drug, he was and she was getting addicted. "Then what'd you wanna talk to me about?"

She took a breath and tried to press herself further in to the door. The small foot of space between them seeming much smaller. "You aren't going to say anything to my mom, right?"

He looked at her and raised one of his thick brows. "'Bout what?" She couldn't help her eyes from flickering down to his lips, before running quickly down his body and resting on the floor, her cheeks tinged pink.

"You know, the other night, and day." She remembered his hands on her bare skin. Oh he did know. The urge to simply tug the corner of her towel and let it fall to the floor leaving her bare for him was overwhelming. If only they had been alone, like they were now.

He let out a laugh as his eyes ran over her. Closing the distance between them, he brought two fingers under her chin and lifted her face to him. "Am I try'na give ya mama a play by play? Nah." His voice was smooth and relaxed, it made her forget about everything, the kids party downstairs, the gun in her childhood room. Relieved, he wasn't going to spill the beans as easily as her aunt might, she let herself relax slightly.

That was until he placed one hand on her hip and another next to her head, against the door. His head cocked to the side and his lips were instantly next to her ear, the short stubble from his jaw line brushed against her cheek. "Be happy to give you one." His fingers brushed absentmindedly across her hip. "Or an encore." The growl in his voice made her gasp slightly, making her bra free chest brush against his, only barriers of clothing preventing skin from hitting skin.

He pulled away from her ear after dragging his teeth along the lobe and looked down at her from his half foot height advantage. "How's my money comin' long?" It nearly gave her whiplash, the drastic subject change. His hands didn't leave their position and his eyes were still boiling with lust.

She shrugged and tried to even her voice. "It's coming."

He smirked. "It better be. Ya don't wanna disappoint me." She could hear the underlying threat but it was overpowered but the lust in his voice. The tone immediately made her start to tingle.

He pulled away to look at her. She let her body control her brain. "And if I do?" His eyes darkened at her suggestive tone and his tongue ran over his bottom lip. "Are you going to punish me?" She pushed her hips slightly towards him making his grip on her waist tighten. She was genuinely curious about what he would do if they couldn't wash all the money, but the throbbing need between her legs caused her to go in the different direction.

A smile slowly spread across his face, but his eyes showed his slight surprise at her words. "Playing with fire, sirenita." He growled out. "Ya'd find my rewards, much more pleasing."

"That so? And how does one receive one of these pleasing rewards?" He was having too much fun with this little game, if the tightening in his jeans was any indication. He had business to take care of, liabilities to deal with. The little woman was fucking with his head.

He moved his hand from next to her head and ran a single fingertip up her inner thigh and traced the edge of her panties. She let out a squeak of surprise that turned in to a moan as his lips went to place hot kisses on her neck. "Be a good girl for me." He growled against her skin. Her head lolled to the side and he pushed her now wet panties aside and ran a finger along her smooth slit, memorizing every inch and fold.

When he grazed her clit she let out a loud moan. He stopped his ministrations on her sensitive nub and pulled away from her neck. Still slowly running between her lips. He gave her a cocky smirk and drawled in the sexiest voice she had ever heard. "Ya want more Allison?" She nodded her head frantically nearly cumming at the way her name sounded. He then inserted a finger inside her and curled it towards her g sot.

Her head fell back against the door and she let out a deep moan, instantly clenching around him, coaxing him deeper. He felt inside her, relishing in the tight, moist feeling, his dick strained at the thought of how he would feel balls deep in her. After a moment of him not moving, she squirmed, wanting more friction and movement. He watched her grind herself against his unmoving digit, relishing in the feel of her inner walls moving slightly and tensing against it for a few moments before removing his hand and putting her panties back in place.

She whimpered slightly at the lack of contact on her unrelieved center, met his eyes and pouted, narrowing hers playfully. He smoothed the triangle of her thong down with the back of his hand and brought the middle finger that had just been inside her to his mouth, sucking her wetness off. It was by far the hottest thing she had ever seen any man do, mostly because it was Rio doing it.

"Unfortunately that gonna be the only taste either of us is gettin', for long as I manage to hold myself off for." Her brows creased at his words. He had told himself, just one more time, if he just had a taste of her, he could move on and forget about her bangin' body, too smart for her own good mind, smile that could end wars. But one taste, just made him want more, so much more.

He shook his head and then gently pushed her out of the doorway and exited the room, leaving her breathless, confused, and incredibly horny. She took a few moments to hather herself before returning to the party.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Allison was jumping in the bouncy house with her siblings after everyone had cleared out of the party. She was laughing and playing along with her sugared up siblings hoping to tire them out for her mother so they'd crash easily. Yelling from inside the house pulled her out of her childish bliss. She could hear her parents fighting, then her mom yelling for the kids to come inside. Allison quickly exited the bouncy house, still hearing them yell at each other. When she reached the porch she could hear them more clearly.

"What Dean? What?" Beth's voice yelled.

"I have cancer." Her father's words made Allison stop on the porch in shock. The kids rushed past her and ran inside, hugging and jumping on their dad like nothing was wrong. Beth slowly turned around to look at her oldest daughter. There were tears in her eyes at this news.

Allison slowly walked through the back door and stood next to her mom, wrapping an arm around her comfortingly. The kids, oblivious as to the situation, eventually ran off to get more time playing before they were forced to get ready for bed.

Allison and her parents stood in silents for a few moments, before she pulled away from Beth and moved to wrap her arms around her father. Tears that had collected in her eyes escaped as Dean wrapped her arms around his daughter. "I'm so sorry daddy. Please come back home." She wanted to spend every moment she could with her father, cancer was rough really rough. Dean looked away from his daughter, towards Beth. She nodded in agreement, knowing that he would need to be around family to fight through the cancer, and hopefully recover.

The next morning, Allison was in the living room, watching the news and drinking coffee. She suddenly heard the doorbell ring and told her mom, who was working on snacks for the kids in the kitchen, that she'd get it. She pulled open the door which revealed a tall dark skinned man dressed in all black except for the red shirt that showed through his jacket. Her brows creased before she put a polite smile on her face and greeted him.

"Hi there, I'm agent Turner, I'm looking for Beth Boland?" He spoke in a professional voice but his body language was kept casual.

She frowned slightly, before pulling up a corner of her mouth. "Morning Mr. Turner, um yeah that's my mom, what's this about? What agency are you with again?"

His eyes narrowed at her fractionally but he held a polite smile. "FBI miss." He glanced around him. "Just had some questions about the neighborhood. Mind if I come in?"

She nodded and stepped to the side allowing him to enter. Quickly leading him to the kitchen, Beth looked up and faltered slightly at the unfamiliar person. "Hey mom, there's an agent Turner that wants to talk to you."

She quickly recovered, looking down and sliding plates of snacks towards Kenny and Jane. "Go bring some to Emma and Danny," They excitedly took their snacks and rushed past Allison and Turner.

Allison went to get her father from upstairs before rejoining them in the kitchen. She was about to move back to the living room to watch Tv and wake up a little more, before starting on her homework she had postponed all weekend, but Agent Turner's voice stopped her. "If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you too, maybe you've seen something." There was something in his tone that unnerved her, like he knew something. She nodded.

"So what can we help you with?" Dean asked as he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge.

"Just wonderin' how the neighborhood's treating you." Turner asked in a casual tone.

Beth narrowed her eyes. "Has there been something going on?" She asked in her mom voice.

The agent shook his head and pursed his lips. "Just some ugliness bleeding in from the city. You guys seen anything weird going on?" He fished.

"Like what?" Allison asked. Not liking the vibe that the agent was sending off.

He looked at her scrutinizingly. "Oh just someone who doesn't really fit the vibe here." She glared at his choice of words. Allison hated the fact that neighborhoods were so gentrified, who was he to say someone like Rio, granted if he only had good intentions, couldn't be here just because of what he looked like. Hispanic and tattoos, a racial profilers gold mine. "Something that just doesn't seem right." Allison looked in thought for a moment before shaking his head.

Dean spoke up, completely oblivious to the tension in the room. "Oh what about that guy." He looked at his wife. "Ya know that guy?" Allison's heart stopped at the thought of her had ratting out an inner-city gangbanger. He pointed to Beth then Agent Turner. "Is it Illegal to throw dog poop into someone else's garbage bins?" Beth and Allison both let out a silent breath of relief. The FBI agent looked less than amused, even though he let out a laugh. "I'm guessing that's not FBI jurisdiction, but those are government bins."

"I'm guessing not." Beth put on her best innocent housewife smile.

Agent Turner then glanced at Allison before turning to the older woman. He pulled a business card out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Let me know if you think of anything."

"Of course. Thank you agent turner." Beth nodded.

"Jimmy." He then looked towards Allison as he turned towards the front door, he looked at her like he knew something she didn't. "Miss Boland." He addressed her, making her slightly nervous, feds had power, and didn't fuck around. "Would you mind walking me out?" Her brows creased at this and her eyes shot towards her mother, who looked at them nervously. The observant FBI agent noticed the tension and laughed. "My daughter's about to become a student at your university. From what I hear, you're quite involved in your class." It was true. She had a decent amount of friends, most of the class knew her. Their freshman floor had been really close, most of the guys joining frats or sororities by the end of the year, but everyone was close the first year. Campus security frequented that floor because of the amount of parties that would litter it. By the next year everyone was living in greek houses or sports only dorms. It was never really Allison's scene, greek life, but she took advantage of the parties and perks of meeting the right people all by chance. "She's a little nervous, maybe you could give me some advice?" He asked innocently, but something about his tone caused red flags to raise.

Allison just nodded and gestured towards the door. Both her parents disappeared to their rooms. "So um, do you know what she's thinking about majoring in?"

He slipped his arms in to his jacket and looked at her, a confident smile on his aging face. "Not sure, she's ten."

Allison scowled as the façade dropped. She scoffed and nodded. "So what'd you want to ask me, not in front of my parents?" She was tired of the bullshit. Cops were all the same, they think they know everything and that everyone else is dumb.

His hand slipped in to his back pocket and pulled out his phone to show her a picture. It was Rio, outside of her house, about to get in to his black cadillac. "You know who this is? This is your house isn't it?"

"It's my house, but I don't know him." She lied, somewhat easily.

He scoffed. "Is that so?" He then turned his phone to face him, swiping left before turning it to face her. It was a picture of her and Rio. She hand his hand grasped in hers and was dragging him up the long staircase. "Because this looks like you do." _How the hell did he get a picture of that?_

She shook her head and moved towards the door. "What are you getting at agent?"

"I'm wondering what an honors undergrad is doing with an inner-city gangbanger." He spoke flat out, to an extent, Allison respected that, people who were upfront, no bullshit. She raised a brow at his classification, it was right, but it didn't seem like that's all that Rio does.

She let out a deep breath. "I met him at some club, he's hot. So what?" Turner raised his brows at her, urging her to continue. "We hooked up. No big deal, like you said, I'm a college kid, we're horny specimens."

"At a kid's birthday party?" He let out a laugh.

Allison narrowed her eyes as her hand hovered over the handle, ready to turn it and kick the FBI out. She took a deep breath to calm her frustration, knowing that she had to play this a certain way. She met his eyes as she pulled open the door. "Are you slut shaming me, agent Turner? Or just pointing out how I'm lacking in the good big sister department?"

The corner of his mouth pulled upward as he stepped in to the threshold of the door Allison was holding open. "Not at all. I'm simply wondering what a nice girl like you is doing involved with someone like that." _Ah the classic cop._

She held a small smile on her face. "Someone like what exactly? If he's so dangerous, this inner city gangbanger, I'm sure that shield and legal bullshit you feds like to hide behind would have him locked up."

He cut her off. "Oh he's been there. He's a criminal."

Allison scoffed and shook her head. "This is the problem with you sheeple. You know, just because something is illegal does not automatically make it immoral. You want drugs off the streets? Investigate the big Pharma companies that are making that shit. Less people getting shot in the streets? Go after the gun manufacturers that put weapons of war in the hands of civilians. The people you go after, they're victims of a system that will never allow their oppressors to fall. Who the hell are you to call someone else a criminal? When you haven't spent one minute in their shoes."

"We live in a society where our justice system is far from perfect, but it's my job to follow it. It's my job to abide by the law, and to hold others accountable to it."

"The law that you follow, that you put on this pedestal, was written by the bad guys, so they were never labeled criminals, even though their behavior was immoral." She took a small step closer to him, nearly standing on the front porch, and met his studying gaze head on. "You see, it's kind of rude to ask someone if they have a rap sheet. When I meet someone, I am looking at their morals far more than if they are following every aspect of the law."

Turner simply looked at her. "Goodnight Allison."

"It's Allie." She slammed the door in his face and let out a long breath. She made her way up the stairs and towards her room, the conversation with the fed playing in her head.

Rio's eyes were focused on the scene at the front door. He had been watching the house ever since the FBI agent showed up. He wasn't worried, they were always try to pin something on him, some he did, some he didn't. His right hand, Carlos, sat next to him in the black cadillac. "If those bitches start talking boss…"

"They ain't gonna say shit. They don't know shit."

"That girl does." His eyes flashed. "That sorority chick is gonna cut some deal when she feels the heat. They all do."

Rio scoffed and looked out the window to where he could see the light from her room. "Nah man, she don't think like everybody else." Carlos didn't believe him, but he didn't say anything. A silence fall over them until his phone chimed, a text from her popped up. **Need 2 talk asap. **He showed his right hand man the phone, he rolled his eyes in response. "And she ain't in a sorority." He sped away from the house

The next day, Allison found herself staring at the same eagle tattoo she had been seeing in her dreams. She was sitting across from Rio on the outside patio of a coffee shop near campus. He had shown up, much to her surprise, questioning what she wanted to talk to him about. He figured he knew, but then again, she had a knack for surprising him. "Some FBI agent showed up at my house."

His lips twitched upwards and he leaned back in his chair. "So?"

Her brows creased, his nonchalant attitude about being on the FBI's radar, surprising her. "You're not worried."

It was clear her statement wasn't a question by the tone of her voice. "In my line of work, if ya don't got the feds on your back, you aren't makin' enough noise."

"And you want to make noise because…?" She took a sip of her smoothie.

He chuckled slightly. "Cause a boss, don't keep quiet." His words made her remember who she was talking to. He was a murderer, a criminal, someone she should be afraid of, yet she wasn't. For some reason, she felt the most comfortable she had felt in a while. Like she didn't have to be the perfect straight A daddy's girl, or the crazy college party kid, she didn't have to be anyone but herself. "Why you worried about it, darlin'?"

The picture that Turner had showed her flashed in her head, along with the events that followed that still image. "He had a picture."

Rio shrugged and pushed his lower lip out. "That ain't nothing special, I'm on facebook too." _Mental Note: Find the gangbanger's facebook account. _"I don't got all day, whatchya wanna say?"

She flinched slightly at the harsh tone. "I was in it too." She looked away from him and mumbled.

His shoulders relaxed and he leaned forwards, causing Allison to look back to him. "That what ya worried about? Just throw him some excuse, sirenita." She frowned. "Unless ya already did. He not believe ya? If I remember correctly, your bluffin' skills are pretty solid."

"I don't know if he believed me." She was worried, she didn't want to be on a federal agent's radar.

"Well what'd ya tell him?" He was curious now, the blush that slowly creeped up her neck only making the curiosity that much stronger.

She couldn't hold his gaze so she stared at the cup in her hands. "Just something along the lines of me being a horny college kid and you being hot." He flashed his teeth at this in a cocky smile, his ego being boosted. Allison noticed this and took him down a notch. "Pretty sure he believed me, my lies are as solid as my bluffs."

His eyes ran over her. "Especially when those lies are formed from truth."

"Yeah right." She rolled her eyes.

Rio scooted his chair closer to her so he sat next to her behind the round patio table. His arm rested on the back of her chair and he leaned towards her ear. "Even good at lying to yourself, sirenita." She was about to turn her head and argue when he felt his tongue run along the swell of her ear. Biting her tongue, resisting the urge to moan, she listened as he continued, trying to remember they were in a very public place, in broad daylight. "I'd bet a small fortune," His hand ran over her jean clad knee and up her thigh. "that sittin' here, I'm hot, and you're that horny college kid."

She pulled away from him and pushed slightly at his chest, but made no attempt to stop his fingers from running along his thighs. "You're so full of yourself. It's insufferable."

The look he gave her showed he didn't care one bit about her classification. "So you tellin' me," He leaned in towards her, ending a few inches in front of her face and dropping his voice to a husky whisper. "your panties aren't wet right now?" _Well now they are._ His hand moved higher up her thigh. "If I popped that." He brushed his thumb over the button and zipper. "Pushed the lace away, ya wouldn't be soaked." She clenched her jaw, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of being right, and shook her head. He raised a brow and moved his hand to her waistband, running his fingers just along the skin behind it. "I'll call ya bluff sweetheart." _No he wouldn't. Oh he totally would. _

Against everything that her body was telling her, she brought her hands up to push his away. He frowned slightly, but immediately pulled away from her, something that she appreciated greatly. Most guys don't take the first no for an answer, if they respect it at all. She hated how Agent Turner had called him a criminal, there were real bad guys out there, ones that ruined people's lives, psychologically.

She could be the first to admit she was intimidated by this man, but not scared of him, no, fear was the last thing she felt with him, at least when he didn't have a gun pointed at people she loved. Allison let out a long breath and grabbed her backpack from the ground.

Standing up, she met Rio's gaze. He was watching her, a cool mask on his face, but his eyes showed that his mind was racing. She stepped towards him and leaned in to his ear. "Even if you were right, ya really think I'm gonna let you finger me in public? In broad daylight?" _Rio doing it would be hot. Shut up brain. _She straightened herself and moved to turn away, but paused and looked back at him. "Especially since you left me to get myself off last time."

He let out a soft laugh and stood up, drinking the rest of his tea and leaving the cup on the table. He looked like he was about to walk past her, but stopped mid stride. His hand came up under her chin and brought her eyes to his. "I could have you writhing and shaking on my hand in less than two minutes, mi sirenita." The heated look she gave him, nearly made him pull her towards his car to take advantage of the heavily tinted windows and show her just how true to his word he was. "I'll take my time the first time I make you cum."

He then turned away, leaving her blushing and speechless, as he walked down the block. Allison stared after him. _What the fuck? Screw this guy. I don't need to be thinking about fucking the gangbanger, there's a line of friends with benefits that could get the job done. But none of those are Rio. _He made her feel something different, she felt alive.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Allison spent the next two weeks studying and shopping. That was her life, she was buying and returning like mad, trying to wash all of Rio's fake money. _Rio_. She had only seen him once, and she wished she hadn't. Her mind flashed to the intense conversation.

_"__You been plaguing my mind sirenita." She was walking to her car from her last class of the day. The sun was setting and showing through the openings in the large parking garage she was in. _

_His voice made her jump and her hand fly to her heart. "Jesus Christ. You scared the hell out of me." She glared at the smirk he held comfortably on his face. "Don't walk up on a woman walking to her car alone, in a parking garage." _

_He stepped towards her, making her back in to the back end of her car. "Were ya going to pepper spray me?"_

_He hand twitched, wanting to grab the small blue canister she had in her backpack. "What do you want?" His eyes ran over her. "Oh hell no, parking garage is no better." She remembered their earlier explicit conversation. "You can't just show up like this." He cocked his head questioningly. She let out a groan and looked at the nearly empty parking level. _

_"__Nah? Free country." She rolled her eyes at this, they definitely did not live in a free country, America never really has been free. _

_"__Seriously, I've been in class all day, I still have to drive all the way the home." She couldn't help her eyes from running over him. He had on all black. "I'm tired Rio." His heart ticked hearing her say his name to him, for the first time. "What do you need?"_

_He wanted to say exactly what he needed, her. The young woman had not escaped his mind since the moment he laid eyes on her. It was frustrating, none of the women he had been with had done it for him, not since he had a taste of her, he wanted, needed more. "What are ya doin' to me darlin'?" _

_Her brows creased, if anyone was doing something it was him. Showing up everywhere looking sexy every single time. She didn't even have a desire to go out and get laid, she would have been more satisfied just staring at Rio, than getting in to bed with one of her college friends. She was annoyed with herself, she hadn't been this infatuated with a guy since she was a preteen. He made her feel like everything she had experienced up to that point had been dull and blurred, he made her see clearly, feel more intensely, and she had no idea why. "You sure I'm not just plaguing something a little more south?" Her eyes dragged down his lean body to his waistband, exposed through the open lapels of his jacket. _

_He smirked at her words. "Wishin' that were the case sweetheart." Her heart fluttered each time, every term of endearment he threw at her, made her feel special. But her mind knew, that's probably how he talked to most girls. His fingers ran up her neck and pulled her chin up towards him. Rio simply looked at her, studied every perfection on her makeup free face. He brushed away a strand of hair that had fallen loose from her messy bun with his other hand before cupping her cheek. _

_Allison's breathing came a little heavier as she studied the intense look on his face. She never had anyone look at her like that. Sure, guys looked at her like they wanted to fuck her, like she was piece of meat. In all honesty, if she thought about it, he was the first guy that wasn't her family actually listened and was interested in her strong views and societal rants. It was like he actually saw her for who she was, or rather, who she wanted to be. Allison had to shake her head and pull marginally away from him, it was too intense, he was too intense. _

_He got the message and dropped his hands from her, but didn't put any further distance between them. Her mind was too clouded with Rio, it was overwhelming her, so she used the only coping mechanism she could to distract from the sexual tension, humor. "Well maybe we should just bang one out, then problem solved." She let out a half hearted laugh._

_His eyes darkened at the thought, a look that flowed straight to her core. The smirk he gave her should have prepared her for his next words, but everything about him surprised her. "They got a nice hotel round the block." Her breath caught in her throat, and she gaped up at him. He watched her for a moment with a playful smirk. When she didn't say anything, he decided to give her an out. "Tho pretty sure one of us would be crawling back for more." He took a step back from her and she immediately felt the fall night chill hit her._

_She resisted the urge to step towards him once again. Mentally slapping herself for being so hung up on this guy. He shouldn't be able to simply look at her and make her putty in his hands. Allison crossed her arms and met his gaze strongly. "I wouldn't need to crawl back for anything, you're the one coming up to me in a parking garage." He chuckled at this, if she knew what he could make her feel, he had no doubt she'd think differently. His cockiness, as much as it turned her on, annoyed the shit out of her. "Look, as much as you kill it in the looks department, there's hundreds of hot guys just in my class to choose from, ones that have and will get me off just the same." _

_His eyes flashed in anger at the thought of her intimate with another man. Sure, he knew there was no way she was a virgin, not looking like that, not with the social life she had, but still he wanted to be the one getting her off. She didn't expect the enraged look that made her shrink impossibly back in to the car, she half expected the car alarm to go off. The jealously that she saw clearly written on his face, ignited something in her. She was sure, he had a line of women at his disposal ready and willing to appease any manly urge he had. That thought made her own jealousy surge through her. _

_Rio would have killed to know what was running through her mind. He watch the micro-expressions on her face change. "You sure 'bout that?" No, she wasn't, but she wasn't going to give him the benefit of knowing he was right_

_She took a deep breath and let it out before meeting his eyes again. "Is this what you're here for? This banter thing is fun and all, but I got homework to do and your blood money to clean."_

_His eyes ran over her entire form, slowly, as he closed the small distance he had allowed between them. His hands gripped her hips, but made no move to pull her in to him. "Truth, just had to see ya sirenita." She wanted to question why, but figured she wouldn't get a straight answer, just a sexual innuendo. _

_"__Well you saw me." She bit back. Allison had caught her reflection in one of the windows on her way out of her last building, she looked rough, so if this is what he wanted to see, so be it. _

_He let out a short breath through his nose. "I have." He inched his face closer to hers, Allison's eyes closed, expecting to feel his lips against her own, but they never came. She pouted involuntarily before opening her eyes. The only thing in her vision was his deep dark brown orbs, they were nearly black, an animalistic hunger dancing them. _

_They stared at each other for a few seconds, but it felt impossibly longer. Rio was not going to move an inch, he'd allow her to pull away from him if she wished, but something told him that was the last thing she wanted to do. Her eyes flickered down to his lips and before she could stop herself, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed her entire body flush against him. As his hands tightened on her waist as she pressed her lips to his. _

_She poured every ounce of frustration that had been building up inside of her since the he had first spoke. Moving her lips against his roughly, he matched her heated passion tenfold. Bringing his tongue to trace her bottom lip, he roughly coaxed her mouth open. Allison let out a short moan when his tongue met hers. _

_They fought for control, she was too frustrated by the man to allow him to assert with very much established dominance. She knew she'd eventually lose but hell if she wasn't trying. When he noticed how heated her kisses were, his hands started to roam over every inch of her torso, leaving tingling trails in their path. Rio felt her clench her thighs together and it caused the semi hard he had been sporting since he laid eyes on her had fully grown, and she could feel it. _

_He pulled away from her and let out a growl. Before she knew what was happening, his hands hand moved to the back of her legging clad thighs and lifted her up effortlessly, leaning her against the car. She hooked her legs behind his back, feeling the harsh metal against her calf. It should have unnerved her, but it simply caused a rush of power that made her push herself harder against that man who wielded it. His lips dropped to her neck and continued their assault. She let out a moan that she would have normally been embarrassed about, when he pushed his jean clad hardness against her core. _

_Through her thin layers she could feel the texture of his jeans stimulating her. He trailed hot wet kisses up her jaw and captured her lobe softly between his teeth. He rolled hips making her gasp and her head fall back, steadily building towards the edge. Wondering when she became that girl, she should have felt like a slut, but she didn't, she only felt Rio._

_He continued for a few moments before stilling his movements and kissing her roughly on the lips. Rio pulled away from her and met her eyes, his tongue shot out to lick his lips and she watched the movement intensely, that was until he spoke. "I 'bout to get ya off through layers of clothes, sirenita." He drawled. There was no maliciousness or belittlement, it didn't make her feel like a whore that she was about to get off grinding against a guy in a parking garage. "Bangin' one out ain't gonna be enough for _you._" _

_She wasn't sure what to say, what someone was expected to say to something like that. He let out a long breath and pursed his lips lopsidedly and he slowly lowered her to the ground. Taking his time dragging his hands away from her body. She hid the disappointment from her face, but he could see it in her eyes. His head nodded towards her car. "But when ya had enough of 'em frat boys, lemme know." Her eyes narrowed. How dare he do the exact same thing? He smirked at her heated look, reading the sexual frustration all over her blush covered face. "Allison…" The way he said her name made her freeze, her body trembled, not in a bad way, like every one of her nerve endings we're calling out for him. His eyes bore in to her in seriousness, truth. "When I make ya cum, I'm gonna be the last one that does." There was a bit of a jealous growl to his tone. "I can make you feel things, sirenita." It took everything in Rio to walk away from her. Her face, her moans, the feeling of her legs wrapped around him were flashing through his mind as he walked towards his black cadillac, not missing the two students who watched him intently._

_Allison stared after him for a few moments, trying to catch her breath. She picked up her backpack and looked around the parking garage as she threw it in to the trunk. Near the stairwell, she saw two girls watching her very obviously, as well as looking to where Rio had disappeared to. Great. Let the rumors come. There was a gossip blog on campus, called UMM, yeah real cool title. It had been a nucence since she had started school. No one knew who ran the blog, but everyone sent in tips. It was a monster and had started a few too many rumors about her. _

Allison was in a park late at night, sitting on a picnic table behind Beth, Ruby, and Annie. A large black duffle, containing half a million dollars in clean money sat on the table next to her. They had done it, washed half a million dollars, it had been hard, but they did it. Now the only thing Allison had to worry about was ifGetting Rio was going to hold up his end of the rather bad deal She had gotten him to enter in to.

Ruby and Beth were talking about the possibility of getting out, that this was too risky and too much. Annie and her niece were definitely on the opposing side. Doing business with a gang wasn't simply something you write a resignation letter to get out of.

"Gettin our of what?" Rio's voice caused the women to stop their conversation and look up. He was walking towards them in all black. He was flanked by Carlos and another burly white man that Allison didn't recognize. He noticed that he had a hard glare transfixed on her. He looked a little older than the lackeys she normally saw him with, this man had to at least be in his late forties, the thought made her wonder just how old Rio was.

"We've just been thinking about your entire operation, and our part in it." Ruby started. Rio looked at her, unamused, wanting her to get to the point.

"And we want out r." Beth finished, also noticing Rio's annoyance.

His eyes darkened as they flashed towards Allison, she sat casually, her elbows rested on her knees as she watched the scene in front of her. "That so?" Rio looked back towards the three other women.

Beth turned away from him and picked up the black duffel bag that contained a half million dollars. "Here it's all there."

He took the bag and handed it to Carlos, who immediately began counting it. "So what's not workin for ya mama?" He stepped towards Beth.

"The FBI, I was wrong this is too risky." Allison knew her mother was right. Stores were gonna notice a huge influx of returns eventually. But she also knew Rio wouldn't let her family out of it that easily.

Rio scoffed at the excuse. "Ya wanna negotiate terms? I'll give ya 30 from now on , instead of that measly 15 ya bitches thought was good."

The mothers all took a deep breath, the appeal of money flashing before their eyes. Allison let out a groan and hopped off the table. She noticed that Carlos had finished counting the money and was waiting for further instruction from the boss. Rio watched her curiously as she stood beside her mother. He smirked, the potential that he saw. "Fine." Beth resigned. "But we're going to need double."

Rio's brows rose. "You wanna clean a mil?" The redhead nodded. "You brought that mama can with ya?" She nodded again. He then turned towards the older man. "Load her up. Go with him ma." He nodded and moved towards the parking lot. Beth and Ruby followed to open the van for him.

Rio glanced at Annie before letting his eyes run over Allison. She stepped towards him well aware that her aunt's eyes were trained on the pair. "You going to keep our deal?"

He smirked. "You washed it didn't ya?" She nodded. Rio then looked towards Carlos who was watching them intensely. "Split it." It was simple task, but Carlos hesitated, causing Rio to narrow his eyes. "Give her half." He did as told, but felt kept a harsh look on his face.

Annie has stood up and stepped next o her niece. "You're giving us half of that?" Allison let out a long breath, she didn't want her family questioning the specifics of why he allowed he such a large cut. "Why?"

Rio narrowed his eyes at the blonde woman. "Special circumstances, cut the questions." He barked in annoyance. He was not in the mood. The fact that he couldn't get the feeling of her legs wrapped around him, grinding enthusiastically on him, the taste of her skin under his lips, out of his mind. He shook his head to stop his train of thought and forced himself to remover her from his line of vision.

Annie grew silent, satisfied with the fact that she was about to be significantly richer. Allison appreciated the fact that he had kept his word. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't think of a single instance where he had lied to her. Not answered questions or omitted some things, but he was never dishonest. She found herself lost in thoughts and questions about the man before her.

He could feel her stare, but he simply pulled out his phone and waited for Carlos to split the money. Rio eventually grabbed the extra paper bag containing their half and moved towards where Allison stood, leaning against the picnic table next to her aunt. He set the bag down in front of her and slowly dragged his eyes up her body.

A shiver shot up her spine as she met his heated gaze. "Don't spend it all in one place sweetheart." With that, he turned and disappeared in to the night.

The piled in to Beth's van and pulled away from the park. A million dollars in fake cash. Allison felt more relaxed about not getting caught this time, mostly because it was Rio's fake cash, and his was perfection, just like everything else of his was. She shook her head against that thought. "So anyone have any idea how the hell we are going to wash twice the amount?" She voiced her concern.

"We just need more hands." Beth responded simply to her daughter.  
Ruby turned towards the drivers seat. "You want to bring other people in to this?"

Allison thought about it. There really wasn't anything in what they were doing that could link to the gang, other than the fake money. But if the people helping didn't know it was fake… "That actually might work." Ruby looked at her incredulously. "Okay hear me out, we just tell people they're shopping, and have them do surveys or something."

"Like secret shopping for customer service." Annie agreed excitedly.

Beth sighed. "We'll figure something out."

"Can someone please tell me why gang friend gave us half his money?" Ruby questioned as she looked through the brown paper bag filled with real cash.

Annie turned to look at her niece giving her an expectant look. Allison shot her a glare. "Ask Allie, he gave it to her."

As they stopped at a red light, Beth and the other two women turned to look at Allison. "Is there something going on with you and him Allison?" Beth asked.

"What? No, of course not, what, like why would you even think that.?" _OMG Allie shut the fuck up. _Annie gave her an amused look as her mouth snapped shut.

"Oh no way, you're getting with gang friend?" Ruby turned around to look at her.

"No, I'm not." She let out a long breath, searching her mind for a way to explain it to her family without revealing the fact that she had been in rather intimate positions with their gang friend. "Okay, so you know that money that Rio gave me the night I was out downtown with my friends? Well that money kinda wasn't his." She was met with confused looks. "I mean it wasn't the stuff that he normally cleans. He got it somewhere else." Before they could question where, an image of Rio shooting the man flashing through her head. "And I thought it would be a bigger risk to try and wash it, it put more of a burden on you guys, well us, so we should get a bigger cute." _Percectly logical._ Beth had turned back to the road while Ruby shrugged. Annie looked at her like she could see through her niece's bullshit. "What?" Allison hissed to her.

The older woman rolled her eyes and leaned in to her ear. "Dude gave you a quarter mil, he's definitely expecting something in return." Allison just pulled away and turned to look out the window.

"Why you bleeding money for that bitch?" Rio's jaw clenched as he threw the freshly washed money in to the trunk of his car. He turned at Billy's words and shot him a glare. "Just cause he saw us smoke them guys?" As close as he was with his inner circle, respected their opinion, he himself didn't understand why he did what he did in relation to that girl. He sure as hell couldn't give his guys an explanation.

Carlos let out a sigh and shook his head. "Come on man, I got it, she's bangin'. But that kids gonna be trouble." He knew, she was already causing him enough trouble. His mind flashed to the woman he had picked up the other night, her hair and skin were darker, but she looked enough like Allison. Even taking her from behind, he had to imagine it was the strong minded woman to even finish.

The waited for him to answer. "What do you want from me?" He growled, pulling his gun out of his waistband and throwing it in the center counsel of the car before turning back to the two white men. They both knew better than to answer. "Meet up at the gym tomorrow." He then got in to his car and sped off.

He was frustrated, irritated, the source being the golden brunette that lingered at the back of his mind. The moment he had laid eyes on her, he couldn't get her face out of his mind. He should have turned the other way, looked past her like he did most other incredibly attractive females, but then she opened her mouth, and he was done for. The way she stood up to him, bluffed like it was second nature, her unique perspective, he had never met anyone like her. And he wanted to know more, wanted to know every single thing about her. What made her tick.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The girls spent the next week organizing an army of secret shoppers, it was a blur of electronics, red and green rubber bands, and lots and lots of real and fake cash. Allison was surprised that she was able to maintain her school schedule. She didn't spend as much time on campus as she would have liked, but it was a sacrifice she could make. Rio didn't make an appearance, she wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed at that. She hadn't been able to get him off her mind. Wondering what the hell was wrong with herself, she put her laptop in to her backpack and walked out of her last class of the night.

The girls were bringing Rio his money tonight, they had managed to wash a million dollars, thrown into the economy, unchecked and unregulated. _Kinda like the federal reserve does. _The line between legal and illegal is often very thin. She considered not even going to the drop off. Her heart had been beating out of her chest all day. Just the thought of laying eyes on Rio was making her flushed. She hadn't seen him the entire month, no random pop ups on campus, no makeout sessions that left Allison incredibly frustrated. _I'd take a makeout over nothing at this point._

She got in to her car and made her way down the angled levels of the parking garage. _Forget about this guy. He's just hot, there's lots of hot guys. But none that make you feel like that. Ugh stupid brain. _She knew there was more to him than looks. He saw her in a the way she wanted to be seen, and that scared her. Bypassing the ramp to the highway, she drove to Megan, her best friend's, apartment, pushing away the thoughts of the sexy crime boss.

A night of wine drinking and gossiping effectively took her mind off of Rio. That was until one of Megan's roommates pulled out her phone and turned it towards the group of girls. "So Allie who's the mystery guy." _Fuck. _

Her brow's creased and she nearly dropped her glass of wine. On the gossip app was a boomerang video, low lit, in a parking garage. It was her and Rio, making out. "Is that the guy from the club?" Megan asked.

"Um yeah." Allison took a sip of her wine. They all looked at her, wanting details. "He works with my mom, I don't know, we don't really have a thing or anything. He just shows up, sexy as fuck, can't help myself." She laughed it off hoping her friends would that that piece of gossip and go with it.

"Girl bring him out one night." Alysha nudged her playfully.

_Yeah that's not happening. _But she nodded anyway. "He's not too in to the college scene, but I'll try."

"How old is he anyway?" Megan questioned innocently. _How old is he?_

_"_Late 20's." She sounded confident but in essence, she wasn't sure. Sure he looked young enough, but the rough edge he always had to him, when he grew out his facial hair, he could look so much older.

Allison probably shouldn't have driven home that night, the wine buzz still present. But she was only twenty one, prefrontal cortex not fully developed, and she was more so emotionally exhausted than she was drunk. Her mind flashed to the blog. _What the fuck is the point of that thing? Air out everyone's dirty laundry. _She changed the song on her phone and pulled up UMM. Her lane deviation signal beeped causing her eyes to snap to the road and she swerved back in to her lane. She dropped her phone on to the counsel and focused on the road. _Dammit Allie just pull over and chill for a minute. _She sighed and looked at her surroundings.

It was well past three am, on a school night. There were no cars on the road, only dimmly lit street lights and business signs illuminating the night.

Allison turned off of the main road and drove towards a park near a small pond her and her friends had once smoked a couple blunts and took candid photos for each other. She pulled herself out of the car reveling in the cool night air. There was a shift in the air she should have noticed, the park was not as warm as inviting at night as it was in broad daylight. She sat on the bench not caring that she may not have been in the safest part of town for a young woman alone at three in the morning.

She looked at the blog on her phone and typed _Allie Boland _in to the search bar. A string of archived postings and comments flooded her screen. She normally wouldn't care what anyone thought of her, least of all some anonymous blog, but her insecurities got the best of her. The first image she saw was the one her 'friends' had shown her. She immediately scrolled through the comments. _Damn – Hot – Sexy Allie – Boland open for business – Whore – Slut – Close your legs. _Allison hadn't noticed tears were streaming down her face as she scrolled through hundreds of comments, until her tears hit the phone screen. She wiped it with her thin sweater sleeve that poked out of her brown leather jacket.

She scrolled through random party pictures people had sent in of her, but nothing made her feel more humiliated than the picture of her legs wrapped around a dark mysterious man, people calling her a whore for simply making out with a guy. _He was about to get you off against that car. _Allison let out a groan and ran her hands over her face, wiping away the tears that would quickly be replaced as she couldn't stop herself from continuing to read and take to heart what internet trolls who didn't know her thought.

"Allison?" A deep voice broke out of her internet spiral.

Her tear-filled eyes slowly lifted to be met with the last person she wanted to see in that exact moment.

Rio had sat on the picnic bench, staring at his phone with a scowl on his face. He would be kidding himself if he said he hadn't been looking forward to seeing her. Even if he could only touch her with his eyes. The fact that she had forgone that little meet had served to turn his particularily sour mood worse. Especially when Beth started questioning his business models.

After telling her what she wanted to know, and effectively being impressed by their ability to deliver, he left the park with instructions for Billy and Felix to meet him at his next drop. He pulled up to the small park, headlights off like he liked to drive at night. He should have immediately recognized her car, but it wasn't until he saw her hair reflected off the park light did he know she was there.

He was stunned by her tear filled gaze and flushed cheeks a mix of anger, frustration, and complete sadness written on her face. He wondered if something happened to her, if that was why she hadn't shown up for their exchange. What he did not expect was her angry voice being directed at him the moment she realized who was approaching her. Her arms threw up in frustration and she dropped her phone on her lap. "Of fucking course."

His brows creased and he frowned putting a harsh mask on his face as she glanced up at the sky. "Someone up there's really got it out for me huh." He didn't miss the slight slur of her words and his eyes shot to her car before looking at her in a scrutinizing gaze that only served to upset her more. "Can I seriously go nowhere without you showing up? What is it? Got my phone's GPS or something? What part of me not showing up for our lovely money exchange pow wow makes it look like I'm trying to do anything but avoid you."

His eyebrow raised and he smirked slightly at the thought of her trying to forget about him, it was exactly what he was trying to do. Her mind flashed to the numerous fights he had heard her parents having about money and the bounce house guy. "You can't stay the hell out of my social life, I already spend all my free time fucking washing your money."

Tears were streaming down her face, more so in frustration than sadness. Rio moved in one swift motion to sit next to her before she could protest. She shifted away from him, but didn't move otherwise. "I have the FBI on my back, I get like no sleep cause I'm up all night writing papers." Allison met his eyes in a harsh glare. "And all my friends think I'm fucking around with some mystery guy in Detroit." He smirked at that, she technically did.

Rio's cockiness just angered her impossibly further. She pushed away from him and stood up ready to storm off, but she turned to him. He held his relaxed position on the bench, but everything in him was calling to go after her. "You showing up, kissing me, touching me, I'm done with it. I have enough of you washing your money and lying my ass off to the feds." Rio slowly stood up at that, knowing she couldn't want more of something she hadn't yet had. "I'm trying to get your cocky badass gangbanger self the fuck out of my head." His smirk grew as he closed the distance between them trapped her against a tree. She could have turned and walked away, he would have let her, but as soon as he back hit the rough bark of the tree, being back in to it by Rio, she was suddenly more turned on than she was pissed off. The way he looked at her as she continued to rant. The fire in her provoked something in him, that he hadn't felt.

She didn't expect the angry scowl that took over his otherwise handsome face. "Ya don't think I'm try'na do the same fucking thing?" She opened her mouth to respond, but he cut her off. "I been try'na fuck you out my mind since the moment I laid eyes on ya, sirenita." Her heart fluttered the way he said the foreign word, but it was offset by the hurt she felt hearing that he had been screwing other girls. _Probably thinking about you. _She shook her head as a hand rested against the bark and the other came to rest on her hip. "Tell me ya don't feel this." His hand dropped from the tree and ran tentatively across her jaw and over the planes of her neck. "Tell me ya don't think about how good I make you feel when you're alone at night."

"Rio don't…"

"I won't." He growled. "Be honest with ya self Allison."

She let out a long breath. "Honest about what? Am I attracted to you? Yeah. But you are the furthest thing from what I need."

"An' you ain't what I need." He was the one showing up around her. "That don't change this. Aint nothin' gonna change it. I tried it all."

She scoffed. "Tried screwing people to forget about me?" He shrugged. "Yeah that's real nice, what every girl wants to hear." Sarcasm coated her tone.

"What you want me to say?" His jaw clenched.

She let out a deep breath. "Nothing. I don't want you to say anything to me." He pursed his lips, not expecting the slight pain that hit him. "I don't want to see you." Her voice broke slightly as she realized she wasn't just lying to him, she was lying to herself. "I don't want you showing up on campus or coming up to me in a club." Her mind flashed to the intense makeout sessions they had. She was suddenly very aware of how close they had gotten in their heated discussion. "Making me feel like this." Her breathing came more erratically, the chest of her jacket brushing against his. "It's too much, _you're _too much."

He'd be lying if he said that didn't boost his ego, still, he kept a neutral look on his face. "So what you want?" He drawled. "You wanna party ya way through college? Find ya frat boy and pop out some kids like ya mama?" _No. _She loved her mother, but like every daughter, she didn't want to end up exactly like her. _She is kind of a badass now. _"Nah, you think to big for that don't ya? I see you, sirenita."

She was staring deep in to his eyes, the raw emotion she saw, made him look different, younger, more innocent, less dangerous. "And what do you see?"

A smile slowly formed on his face as his eyes ran over hers. "Una reina." _Queen? _Her brows creased and her mouth gaped open, but no words came out. "Get home safe." He then pushed himself away from her and moved to the other end of the park where his guys were waiting.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 **

It was halloween weekend, a surprisingly warm fall night. _Thanks global warming. _She stood in front of her bedroom mirror admiring her costume. She placed the miniature tiara on top of her thickly curled hair. She turned around in the mirror, admiring the tutu princess skirt that only covered about half of her backside that was covered in a simple yellow bikini bottom. It was paired with a Belle princess costume crop top that pushed up her cleavage and left her mid-drift exposed. After slipping on a jacket and a pair of bright red heels that matched the embellishments on the costume, she made her way down the stairs.

"Mommy look Awwie's a princess." Emma's voice shrilled from the kitchen.

Allison chuckled slightly and pulled her long jacked closer to her barely covered body. "It's halloween Emma, we can be anything!" She excitedly smiled at her sister who was in a jasmine costume while she grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"Are you going to be back tonight?" Beth asked her daughter, clearly seeing the high heels she was wearing as well as her lack of pants under her jacket.

Allison smiled at her mother. "Hopefully not." Beth didn't appreciate the joke, so in a more serious tone she eased her mother's protective nerves. "I'll crash at Megan's."

Her mother nodded. "You're not going in to the city right? There's always a bunch of crime on halloween."

She shook her head. "Nah, we'll be right by campus. There's this costume party, I'll probably just be there all night and walk back to her Meg's apartment."

Beth was appeased with the answer, thankful her and her daughter had come to a more open relationship than during her teenage years. "Have fun honey." She hugged her daughter.

The crowd that had gathered around the beer pong table cheered loudly as Allison sunk the final cup in their triple overtime game. Chase, who was her partner for the game, high fived her and pulled her in to a hug. He lifted up and spun her around excitedly. Their friends had come up to congratulate them with shots. After taking one, Allison and Chase made their way in to the kitchen of his fraternities house to get more drinks.

"Damn, we're killing it." Allison hopped on to the counter and swung her legs, feeling the warm buzz of alcohol flowing through her body.

Liam poured her a drink and handed it to her. "Yeah you're definitely my partner for the tourney after midterms." She agreed as she sipped on her drink. They rejoined the party shortly after.

Shots=======Dancing======Shots=======Dancing=======Shots========

When her mind finally broke through the blackout she was walking on the street in her red heels and an oversized navy blue sweatshirt. The two pieces of her costume clutched in her fist. She stopped and looked around the dimly lit street. _What the fuck? How did I get out here? Who's sweatshirt is this? Where the hell am I? Where's my phone? _"Damn it." _Blackout Allie, you're so fucking stupid. _She groaned and walked to the closest open looking business.

She pulled the door open to a gas station. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was well past four am. She walked up to the glass encased counter, there was a tired looking middle eastern man sitting behind the register. "Excuse me?" He looked at the young girl below her. "Um do you have a phone I could borrow?"

"Nah sweetie, buy something or head out." He grumbled at her and waved his hand dismissively.

She took a deep breath and brought tears to coat her eyes. "Please sir. I've had a really bad night. I just need to call someone to pick me up, or a cab or something. Please."

He looked at her for a moment before turning and grabbing a landline phone from the receiver and handing it to her. She thanked him and turned away slightly. _Okay who's number do you know by heart? _She tried a couple of her friends but their phones were either dead or they were all passed out. The man gave her an impatient look as she wracked her brain for phone numbers. _House? Mom? Dad? Nope. _She tried to call Annie, but only got her voicemail.

Her fingers slightly shook as she remembered the only other phone number she could. An image of the contact on the gun shot gang kid's phone flashing in her mind. It only rang twice before the phone picked up. "What?" His harsh voice came through the line making her regret dialing his number in the first place.

"Rio, uh its me, umm Allie." She nervously chewed on her thumbnail.

"What's wrong?" She could hear voices faded in to the background.

"Nothing, um I mean, not nothing but um, ugh I uh just need a favor. I'm sorry I shouldn't have called, I just, no ones answering, I lost my, I couldn't find my…"

"Slow down sirenita." He had moved away from the voices of his guys. "What do you need?"

"A ride." She heard a long exhale over the line and glanced at the gas station owner who glared at her, wanting his phone back. "Please Rio. I seriously wouldn't ask if anyone else was answering. I literally have nothing on me, nothing to call an Uber, or cash for a cab. Please I know it's late and I'm really sorry…"

"Where are you?" He was already grabbing his gun and keys and making his way out of the warehouse, ignoring the questioning glances from his guys. She described the gas station she was at, it would take him at least twenty minutes to get there from his territory on east Detroit.

The store owner made her wait outside since she didn't have any money to buy anything. She wondered where all her stuff had ended up and hoped that she wouldn't have to replace everything. Rio's sleek black cadillac sped in to the parking lot and screeched to a stop. She imedietly walked towards the passenger door, pulling it open and sliding in to the expensive black leather seats.

Rio saw her standing under the dimly lit light coming from the gas station. Her slowly paling white legs imedietly drew his gaze and made him scowl. She was only wearing a hoodie that clearly wasn't her size and carrying some yellow pieces of fabric. Her hair was in a messy array of thick curls with a silver tiara sitting lopsided and tangled in them. The oversized sweatshirt that clearly wasn't hers caused a course of anger to shoot through him. First at her with another man, then the fact that she had been left at some gas station like a piece of trash. If he got his hands on who treated a woman like that, treated _her_ like that… he shook his head, and whipped the car in to a stop in front of her.

Allison looked out the passenger window of the car, trying to remember the events of the past few hours. Coming up blank, she gathered up enough courage to finally speak. "Thank you."

His fists clenched on the wheel, when she looked over at him, she saw his jaw tick. "Thought you were done."

She fulled the sweatshirt further down her thighs. "I am done." Her voice was so broken it made him pause. "Do you have an iphone?" He creased his brows and looked at her, nodding once. "I uh, can I use the find my iphone thing?" Rio hesitated but unlocked his phone and opened the app.

They were silent while she typed in her information. "Thank god." Her phone had pinged at the frat house. "Can you bring me here?" She turned the phone towards him.

Rio took it out of her hand and looked at the address of a house right outside of campus. "You gonna tell me what happened?"

She let out a sigh. "Would if I could. I blacked out." Allison looked down at her lap, finding interest in intertwining her fingers. "I was walking on this street when I came back to it."

Rio scoffed. "And ya want me to bring you back to the same people that let you wander the street blacked out, alone, half dressed." His voice was clipped and frustrated.

"Look, I don't know what happened. My purse, my phone, everything should be there. Please. I just, I need my stuff back, I'll go home after, I want to go home." Her lip quivered as she felt the soreness between her legs that had been present, even more so now that she was sitting down. Her arms wove to wrap around herself, she kept her face angled away from him. He had yet to start driving and turned more in his seat taking in her appearance at a much closer angle. Her makeup was smudged, she clearly had been undressed at some point, hair was a mess.

"Allison." His soft voice called out to her. She couldn't help but look at him, not when the foreign tone she had only ever seen him use with her. "Tell me what you remember, what ya feel._" _

She shook her head. "I was at a halloween party, playing beer pong, dancing, taking shots, it's a blur of that party then nothing until I was suddenly walking on the street, miles away." He just looked at her, waiting for her to answer his second question. "I feel fine."

He laughed humorlessly. "If there's one thing I learned about women, when they say they fine, they not."

"Well I am!" It came out more defensively than she intended. She had to take a deep breath to calm herself down. "Whatever happened tonight, it's something I got myself in to. I know how I am drunk." She turned away from him, self conscious ashamed of how she was the stereotypical sloppy drunk slut that everyone thought she was. "The last thing I need is judgement from _you_."

Rio put the car in drive and headed towards her phone's location. "I ain't judgin' princessa." She narrowed her eyes at the nickname, before she remembered the costume she had chosen that year, the one sitting discarded at her feet. They drove in silence until they pulled up in front of the fraternity house. She was about to thank him and pull open the door, but his hand on her arm stopped her. "Stay here Allison." His voice was firm, her entire body wanted to adhere to his command, but she shook her head in protest, knowing that house was full of college kids, either fucking or passed out. "You ain't going back in there." Rio glanced at the quiet three story house before giving her a look that said he was not playing.

"I'm not letting you walk in there guns blazing." She joked.

He took a deep breath then smirked at her and pulled the door open. "Then let's get on with it."

They walked up to the large entryway. The house was quiet, dim lights and halloween decorations illuminating the scene. Allison pulled open the door without knocking and made her way in to the entryway. "Can you set off the lost tone?" Rio nodded at her request and they heard a faint sound coming from up the stairs. She glanced in to the front sitting room and recognized Chase and a couple other guys knocked out on the couches, some with arms around costumed girls. She turned back towards Rio. "Can you get my phone? See if my purse and jacket are up there." He nodded and turned towards the stairs. "Please don't shoot anyone." She whisper called after him.

Allison made her way in to the large living room where Chase had his arm around some freshman in a cheap nurse costume. "Yo Chase. Wake your ass up." She shook him slightly.

He stirred for a moment but finally his eyes fluttered open and he looked at her. "Allie? What time is it?" He groaned and rubbed his eyes, shifting to sit up and propping the girl against the arm rest. His eyes ran over her apparel, and they narrowed, knowing exactly whose sweatshirt it was.

"What happened?" She threw her arms up in frustration and she leaned against the armrest of a chair.

Chase's eyes focused on the dimly lit room and his eyes narrowed as they ran over her once more, not having to guess that she didn't have her costume on under his greek brother's sweatshirt. "The fuck do you mean? You disappeared, no one saw you the rest of the night. Cleared the place out round three, most of us knocked out." Chase ran his hand down his face, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Where were you?" He looked her in the eye.

Allison shook her head and shrugged. "I can't remember."

"Figures." He mumbled.

She creased her brows. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Rio made his way up the stairs, following the tone of the phone to a room on the second floor. He pulled open the door and was met with a passed out guy face down in his boxers. Looking around the cluttered room, he noted the torn up condom wrapper on the nightstand and scowled.

Rio followed the tone and found her phone on the floor of the room on top of a jacket and purse. His hand reached out to pick them up and make his way back down the stairs, but he paused. His head snapped towards the sleeping frat boy, an image of Allison standing in the cold night outside of the rundown gas station. Slowly, he stood up and moved back towards the door. Slamming it closed, hard enough to wake the boy up.

As he took in his surroundings, he noticed Rio standing in front of him. He jumped slightly. "What the fuck bro? Get the hell out!"

He chuckled and held up Allison's stuff. "Yeah I don't think so. Allie Boland." Rio noticed the flash of recognition on his face. "You with her tonight?"

The boy ran a hand over his face. "Seriously man, you here about that slut?" Rio's eyes darkened dangerously. "You that mystery guy she spreads her legs in parking garages for?" The nerve of this kid nearly made him reach for his gun and put a bullet between his eyes, but the detail gave him pause. "Look man, I didn't know she was taken. Way she was all over Chase, figured she was good to go."

"The parking garage, she tell ya bout that?" He questioned.

The younger man laughed. "Nah that shit was all over UMM." Rio gave him a confused look. "It's the blog man, people send in pictures and tips and stuff, it's stupid gossip. Allie's on there a lot." He stood up and threw a shirt over his head.

Rio suddenly grabbed him by the collar and pushed him roughly in to the wall. "You like screwing black out drunk girls?"

He tried to push the man off of him, but was nothing for Rio's strength. "I didn't do anything she didn't want dude."

Rio growled. "I not you're dude, or man, or bro. You ever touch her again, I'll cut your hand off, among other things." He then pushed himself off of the frat boy and picked up Allison's items. He pulled open the door and turned towards the shaken up man once more before making his way back down the hallway.

Rio heard their voices as he made his way down the stairs. "Al, I don't know what you want me to tell you. One minute you were taking shots and dancing, then I don't see you the rest of the night."

"I blacked out Chase, I don't know what the fuck happened to me, what I did." She was on the brink of tears. "I was suddenly miles away from the last place I remember. You think I wanted that to happen?"

Chase, in his tired and hungover state narrowed his eyes. "What do you think you did? What do you do when you're drunk, Allie?" Her lip quivered. "Geez, you showed up half naked to a frat house, proceeded to drink all night. Then wake me up yellin' 'cause you can't remember shit? Nah that's bull, that's on you." He stood up, frustrated.

A tear had escaped her eye and she glared at her friend. "I thought my friends had my back."

Chase glanced above her head as Rio entered the room. "Ain't no body trying to be your babysitter. Clearly ya got one of those." She glanced behind her and saw Rio standing there with her jacket and purse draped over his arm. "Get him out of my house Allie." She looked at Chase in disbelief of how cold he was being. _Did I do something to him last night? Say something? _Shaking her head, she turned away from him and led Rio out of the house.

"Are you sore at all?" Rio's voice broke the tense silence that enveloped the car. She gave him a confused look. _No way he can know that. _"That boy that screws blackout drunk girls ain't touching you again." His voice was coated in frustration.

"I'm fine." She was tired, dehydrated, partially drunk, frustrated with herself, embarrassed, and entirely drained.

"Like I said."

Allison dropped her head in to her hands and rubbed her temples. "Please don't take me home." She wasn't sure why she was asking. She should have wanted to run a bath at home and relax in to her plush bed.

He looked at her as she buried her head in the oversized sweatshirt sleeves, curls falling around her face. "Where then?" He heard her let out a shaky breath. Flashes of her night breaking through her memory. Making out with Nick in his room, her riding him, passing out, wandering out of the quiet house, crying.

She rolled her head to the side to look at him. "I don't care." Rio frowned at her pleading gaze but nodded. He hated seeing her look so broken, hated seeing incompetent boys making feel any less than her worth.

"I got you princessa." His fingers came up to lightly brush the crown tangled in her hair before running his hand down her back and moving it to the gear shift.

Allison wanted to question why they were downtown but at this point she didn't care. She didn't care where she went, didn't care that she was with a dangerous gangbanger. All she could think about was how betrayed she felt by her 'friends' and how stupid she was to sleep with the biggest asshole in her junior class. They pulled down an ally way and parked next to the back door of a tall building in downtown Detroit.

Rio led them through a back door and in to an elevator, bringing them to the top floor. She had abandoned her halloween costume and jacket in her car, simply clutching her purse to herself and hugging the sweatshirt that covered her body around her. The ride up was silent, she didn't know what to say.

The elevator doors opened to a generic hallway, Allison wondered where they were. He led them to the single door at the end of the hall. He shot her a glance before unlocking the door and pulling it open. "Welcome to my home princessa, well one of 'em."

He flicked on the light and illuminated the modernly decorated apartment. There was an open floor plan large living room with black leather furniture in front of a fireplace with a large flat screen tv mounted above. Cornering the living room was floor to ceiling windows overlooking the city lights it was an incredible view, one that drew Allison's gaze for more than a few moments.

She followed Rio's movements as he moved in to the chef's kitchen equipped with stainless steel appliances. There were walls and divisions separating the dining room, another sitting room and a hallway that led to quest rooms and an office. What she noticed most was the lack of personal effects, it felt like it could have been anyone's apartment. Sure the dark sleek decor screamed Rio, but could belong to anyone with decent taste.

"You live here?" She asked, slightly in awe of the expensive penthouse. He smiled slightly and nodded. "It's a pretty cool place, I guess." She gave him a coy smile as she stepped further in to the warm atmosphere. She sat at the breakfast bar attached to the large, two level island.

He opened the fridge and pulled out a dark bottle of beer . She figured it was some craft brew she didn't recognize based on the unfamiliar label. "Ya want anything?" He glanced over his shoulder. _Pants. _Still she shook her head and rested her head on her hand. Rio sat down next to her, setting the glass bottle on the granite countertop. He wasn't sure what to say, he was out of his element. After a long silence, Allison broke it. Lifting her head up, she looked at him. "Thank you." He nodded once and took a sip of his beer. "Seriously, you could have told me to fuck off when I called and I wouldn't blame you."

He chuckled slightly. "Thought about it princessa." She was suddenly very aware of the crown digging in to her head and slowly started to untangle it from her curled hair. "Dethroning yourself already?"

His light tone put her at ease more than she cared to admit. "I may have dressed up but I didn't exactly have a very princess-like night." Her lips pulled up slightly and pride flowed through him, being able to make her smile after the night she had.

"Especially since ya called me." He lifted the bottle to his lips and took a long sip.

She laughed and it was like music to his ears. "Figured I'd top off my night of bad decisions with another one."

He ran his eyes over her, wanting that boy's clothing off of her. Not so he could see what was underneath, simply to get that piece of shit's mark off of her. "So what's the plan, sirenita?" _God what's with all the Spanish nicknames? _

She shrugged and fidgeted with the long ends of the sleeves. "If you have to go somewhere or something…"

He cut her off. "I don't really make solid plans at five am on a Sunday darlin'." His tone had a harsh layer to it, but the playful smirk he held on his face reminded her that it was just Rio. He was a dangerous guy, one that she knew absolutely nothing about, he always had some sort of anger brewing at the surface.

He look in to her tired eyes and let out a long breath, trying to remove any tension from his body. "You need some sleep." It was clearly not a question, but still, she nodded. Rio stood up from his chair and held a hand out loosely. "Come'on." She slowly rose from the bar stool and allowed him to lead her up the stairs that branched off the entryway and led to a lofted master suite. The windows from the living room extended to the second level ceiling. His entire bedroom was like it was out of a magazine, not one that she'd ever seen before, because it was so _him_. Everything in this apartment reminded her of Rio.

Allison suddenly felt incredibly insecure. She felt gross from hooking up with someone she barely remembered, she had called a gang banger like he was going to be her prince charming, and he had been, but she figured he'd want something. As as much as she wanted to sleep with Rio, she could still feel Nick touching her, inside of her. The thought made her cringe. He noticed that change in her posture and gave her a questioning look. "Do you have, um do you care if I take a shower?" She glanced around the room for indication of a bathroom, but all the doors looked the same.

The question caught him off guard. "Nah, I just use a hose out in the ally." He gave her a lopsided smile, hoping to brighten her mood again.

She let a small breath of air out of nose and her lips ticked at the joke. "I'll be quick."

He nodded and turned towards one of the black wood stained doors. "Take ya time, there's a closet with towels and everything." She just nodded and walked in to the illuminated luxury bathroom. Normally she would have been in awe and admired the room, but instead she moved robotically, not even waiting for Rio to close the door behind her before pulling the sweatshirt hem over her head and discarding it on the floor. She immediately turned on the rainfall shower, not bothering to wait for it to warm up, before stepping in to shower and pulling the door closed.

Rio had to force himself to tear his eyes away from her fully exposed back side and close the door. He turned back in to his room and grabbed a pair of basketball shorts and a black sleeveless shirt.

After an hour of hearing the water running, he started to worry. "Allison?" He knocked on the door. He didn't get a response, so he immediately opened the door. The bathroom was filled with steam that escaped through the door as soon as it was opened. "Allie?" He called once he was in the room. He could hear her muffled sobs over the sound of the running water.

Allison was sitting on the tiled floor of the large walk in shower. Her arms were wrapped around her and her knees were pulled in to her chest. She let the warm water simply hit her as she beat herself up over her own drunken decisions. She didn't hear Rio enter or call her name the first time. But she definitely did the second, still she didn't care, she didn't answer or even look up until she heard the door to the shower pop open.

Rio was looking down at her, with a worried look, one that she registered as pity and immediately turned away from him, burying her head in to her knees. "I'll be out in a sec."

He barely heard her over the water. He crouched down and brushed her wet hair behind her ear so he could see her face. She slowly turned to look at him, not caring that she was naked and crying. "Mi sirenita, lemme help you." His fingers trailed down her neck, shoulder, and down her arm. "Forget 'bout 'em." She smiled slightly. "Ya soap up at all?" She shook her head, making him smile slightly and pull off his shirt.

Her brows creased as her eyes followed his movement. He kept his pants on as he stepped in to the shower, blocking the stream from hitting her. Her eyes slowly dragged up his body, his arm outstretched towards her. She should have felt self conscious, but after her night, all she felt was numb. But as soon as her hand touched his, she didn't feel so numb. She slowly stood up and her eyes dropped to his chiseled, tattooed torso until she met his gaze.

Rio's eyes ran over her fully exposed body taking in every curve, imbedding it in to his memory. "Why are you being so nice to me?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, he had to strain to hear it.

His hand reached up and his fingers trailed her jaw. "Wish I could tell ya, sirenita." Her stepped closer, pressing his chest against his. He reveleved in the feel of her breast crushing against him. She didn't move back, she had more than enough space to, but she held her ground. "You're absolute perfection." She shook her head and looked away from him. She was anything but. Her entire adult life had been a string of wreckless decisions, all she did was go to school and party. _And work for a gang. _Sure she had focused on school, but it didn't offset.

He pulled her chin up to look at him. Before she could take another breath, he pushed his lips to hers. Her arms wove around his neck and she pushed herself against his half clothed body. Their lips moved in unison, until he needed more, and pushed his tongue in to her mouth. HIs movements weren't aggressive like she expected, the unique reserved softness ignited something in her. She wanted to know every single thing about this man. His lips moved slowly against hers, his tongue danced, for the first time not battling for control. He let her have him, at least for that moment, and she took it.

Before the kiss got too heated he spun her around and soaped up a luffa. It was less than thirty seconds before she felt the rough texture rubbing the scented soap in to her skin, washing the night off of her. HIs hands eventually lathered in the bubbles, ghosting over her skin. Allison let out a deep moan as his fingers brushed simultaneously across her nipples and arched her back in to him. She could feel the jean covered bulge against her back side. "You like that?" His fingers brushed over the sensitive buds once again and her head fell back to rest on his shoulder, the warm water falling over them.

As much as Rio had wished he removed his pants, wanting to feel her against his most intimate areas. The barrier helped his control, she had been through enough that night. So he satisfied himself by bringing his lips to her neck and nipping, sucking, tracing patterns with his tongue and continuing to run the suds over her body until she was practically grinding against him.

When his hand moved between her legs she shifted her head so her lips were next to her ear. His kisses on her neck slowed. "Mmm. Are you just gonna tease me again?" She pushed in to his hand as his fingers grazed her clit.

He suddenly spun her around and locked her gaze, his hands gripping her hips possessively. "You done with them boys?"

His question made her look away from him. Was she done? Could she be done? Could she grow up? He almost took her pause as answer, something he was all too familiar doing, but he forced himself to think about her. Her standing in the cold, being treated like meat, slut shamed. So he forced himself to allow her to gather her thoughts.

"I want _you_." She stressed as her hazel eyes met his dark brown ones. "I don't get why, I just, I can't get you the hell out of my mind." She dragged her hands down his chest and played with the waistband of his jeans. She licked her lips as she looked over the chiseled six pack he adorned. "Why do I want you so much?" Her voice was exasperated.

His grip on her waist tightened and he pulled her in to him, she arched in to where his jeans touched her naked body and dragged her hands up his chest. She traced a few of the intricate black pieces of art that littered across his chest, ending at the eagle on his neck. She stared in fascination as she traced the wings. He swallowed thickly and looked down at her. "Ya sure you ain't trying to satisfy some bad boy fantasy?"

She lips parted in a smirk. "That was a reality ages ago. Though, you do take it to the next level." He looked at her. "What do you do anyway? Gangbanger? Drug dealer? Money launderer? Crime boss?" An amused look crossed his face. "All of the above?"

"Wouldn't ya like to know darling?" He dragged a single finger tip down the length of her body, making her shiver even in the steaming shower.

"Are you ever going to show me?" Her hands dropped from his soaked waistband and brushed over the hard member, straining his jeans. _Fuck, he's big. _He groaned and leaned his head back at the double meaning. This girl was messing with his head, both of them. "Well?" Her eyebrow arched.

When his eyes snapped to hers they were impossibly dark, not in a way she was scared of, in a way that made her want to dive deeper in to the black orbs. "Oh I'll show ya something sweetheart." She licked her lips at his words, a motion that made him want her tongue running where her hand had dropped from.

He suddenly reached behind him to the shelves built in to the shower wall, and put a small amount of distance between them in the large shower. He took a deep breath as he opened it and squirted some in to his hand. Allison creased her brows, wondering what he was doing until he moved to stand behind her and started working the lather in to her hair.

Allison smiled and let out a relaxed moan as his strong fingers massaged her head. "You gonna be patient though." His deep voice broke her out of her mindless relaxed bliss and remember what they had been talking about.

"I think I've been patient enough." She arched back in to him.

Rio smirked at her. "Ya think?" Allison nodded and let out a deep moan as his fingers worked expectedly in her hair. He stayed silent as he washed the conditioner out, Allison couldn't have minded in the slightest. She was surrounded by absolute bliss, a welcome escape to what she had been through that night.

As soon as the product was washed out of her hair, Rio's hand traveled down her body, washing over the planes of her neck. Stopping at her breasts to play with her nipples. She moaned wantonly against him, grinding her bare backside in to his jean covered bulge. "Fuck sirenita." Rio groaned.

"What does that mean?" Allison dropped her head back against his shoulder.

He chuckled. "What does what mean?"

As much as Allison wanted to turn and glare at him, she was enjoying her position a little too much. "Sirenita."

He let out breath. "Google it."

Allison groaned and spun around, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him impossibly closer to her. "Oh, I will." He smirked at her response. Allison was so wound up, so horny from barely getting off with the frat VP, Nick. The sexual tension, the pull that she felt when she was with Rio was undeniable.

He led them out of the shower and wrapped a fluffy towel around her before stepping out of his jeans. Allison couldn't help herself from taking in his body. The only thing covering him were the soaked boxers that did nothing to hide his erection. He was wiping his face with a hand towel when he noticed her ogling him.

"See something you like?" His words made her eyes snap to his, a playful smirk sat on his face. She smiled and nodded. Rio let out a groan and ran his hand down his face. "Ya killing me sirenita." He wrapped a towel around his waist before pulling his wet boxers. "There's some clothes on the bed for ya. Sorry it's all I have."

Allison glanced towards the door before turning back to him and taking steps to close the distance between them. "Or we could forget about clothes." A smile spread across his face and he pulled her out of the bathroom and towards his bed, their bodies only covered with white towels. He captured her lips and encircled her in his arms as he lowered them on to the mattress.

He only pulled away after a few moments and hovered over her. "Ya tempt me too much darlin'." Rio forced himself to remember the night she'd already gone through. And as much as his other head wanted to make the decision for him, he didn't want to be the second guy she had been with that night. "You need some rest." The pout that appeared on her face almost made him reconsider. "You've had a night sirenita." His voice was soft, not condescending in the slightest.

She nodded at his words, but that didn't stop her from pushing herself to his lips once again. Rio let her continue for a few minutes before she got too wound up. By then he insisted they get some sleep, he knew that he would only be able to get a couple hours before he would need to be up taking care of business.

Allison fell asleep on his bare chest, Rio's fingers ran through her damp hair as he watched her drift into a deep sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi there readers. So sorry for not posting in a while, I haven't had much inspiration and have been mind numbed by everything happening in the world and country right now. I caught up to what I have written and am hoping I can bang out a few more chapters and get them edited to post more regularly. Please let me know what you think. I've found myself incredibly motivated by your reviews. So thank you so much and enjoy!**

**Chapter 10**

The next morning, Allison woke up on Rio's expensive sheets. She smiled in to the morning sun as she stretched out. The only think missing, that she hand't noticed, was Rio. He was entirely absent from the California king bed. She frowned as she opened her eyes and adjusted to the room. The light poured in from the expensive large windows. She groaned and pulled her robe clad body from the bed shivering slightly at the cold morning air.

She used the bathroom, then made her way down the stairs towards the kitchen. There she found a note on the fridge. _Ran out. Business. Head out the front and introduce ya self to the doorman if you leave. Come here whenever, mi sirenita. - Rio _She smiled at the note.

Allison braided her hair and managed to find a pair of Rio's joggers and a long sleeved shirt she could wear out of the building without looking like she was doing a walk of shame. She did as the note asked and summoned an Uber so she could get back to her car. She silently thanked Rio for getting her stuff back for her so she wouldn't have to find her spare car key.

By the time she got home it was nearly noon. She had done as Rio asked and introduced himself to the night guard/doorman. He looked tired and the building wasn't exactly the most extravegent, she was surprised they had one in the first place. But he was nice enough and perked up immensely when she mentioned Rio's name.

Allison walked through her front door and expected to hear her siblings running around or some cartoons on. Instead it was silent, and she only heard her father's voice. "Are you a drug dealer? Are you running a prostitution ring?" Followed by her mother's. "Remember when you were screwing your secretary and lost everything that we owned? Yeah so this is kinda like that."

Allison found them in the living room, a large pile of fake and real money adoring red and green rubber bands. "Allie honey." Dean flailed for some excuse to explain to his daughter why they had piles of cash. Of course, it was unnecessary.

She just shook her head and plopped down on the couch, feeling tired and mentally drained. That paired with the hangover that was setting in, she hated it. "Chill dad, I know."

Dean's brows rose in surprise and he looked at Beth with an accusatory look. His wife simply shrugged and continued counting the money. "You got our daughter involved in this shit, Beth, seriously?"

Beth looked at her daughter, taking note of the particularly baggy clothes on her form. "She isn't involved in anything Dean." _Ha yea. _Her father just shook his head and moved to exit the room until his wife's voice stopped him.

"Don't forget, I need you out of the house tonight." Dean spun around at her words.

"Book club?" Allison didn't like the sarcastic tone that laced her fathers voice. She had been getting closer to him, driving him to and from appointments, movie nights with the kids. But she hadn't seen this side of him.

Beth affirmed with a nod. "Yeah, book club."

"What am I supposed to do with the kids?" Dean asked making her wonder where they were at the moment. _Probably at grandma's._

"I don't know, take them to the movies." She threw him an entire stack. "Hell take them to Disneyland." With that Dean exited the room and then the house some minutes later.

Book club was, well book club. Annie was yelling, the girls were raking it in. Ruby had finished counting this weeks haul and as much as Allison hated greed, hated that people got pleasure from wealth, holding her cut in her hands, the thick weight of the paper that promised financial security. _Stop. It's just paper. Paper that could pay your tuition. _She shook her head as she tried to focus on their conversation.

"Guys, shoppers be shoppin'." Ruby said excitedly. Allison decided to revel slightly, only slightly in have the most cash she had ever had at once.

The next day Allison was standing in front of her bedroom mirror. Shopping bags littered her room. She had gone a little wild with their last pay day. She could vaguely hear Beth, Annie, and Ruby downstairs, drinking wine and watching real housewives. The structured, fitted navy blue jumpsuit accented her body in a way she hadn't seen in an outfit she had ever worn. It had cost her a few hundred dollars, and she wasn't sure exactly when she would wear it, but once she had put it on in the fitting room, she couldn't leave it behind.

The tag had been digging in to her back and she wanted to try on the numerous heels she could pair with the outfit. She moved downstairs to try to find a scissors. "Mom! Do you have a scissors to cut the tags off this?"

"Sure!" She called from the TV room. "It's in my room. I want to show you guys something too." Allison met her mother in her bedroom. "Oh that looks gorgeous honey." Beth gushed as she took in her daughter's expensive outfit.

She smiled at the compliment and moved to pull the tag out. She quickly cut them off and showed her the 13 carrot emerald cut white gold necklace she had gotten. They had both moved to the living room to show Annie and Ruby what they had gotten. "Tell me what you think. It might be a little much, but I kind of love it."

As she walked in to the living room with her mother, she noticed the change in atmosphere. Beth seemed to as well. She looked around the room and recognized Carlos, and the well built black man that was in her home the first day she had met Rio, Felix, she thought his name was. They were each holding guns. Allison recognized the familiar gold glint of Rio's as it reflected off of the lights.

"Not over the top at all." Rio's eyes took in the piece of expensive jewelry Beth had rested around her neck before his eyes ran over her daughter. She wore a strapless fitted jumpsuit with a sweetheart neckline. He forced himself to tear his eyes away from her form and look towards the older woman, who had stepped protectively in front of her daughter. "What is that? Is that emerald cut." Rio's hand shot to the back of Beth's neck, holding her in place as he trailed the golden tip of the gun up her jaw, stopping at her chin.

"Please put the gun down." Beth begged. Allison looked around the room, Carlos and Felix had their guns trained on Annie and Ruby.

"How much of my money that set you back?" His fingers trailed along the necklace while he glanced over at Allison.

"This isn't your money." Beth argued, bringing Rio's attention back to her.

"But it is." His lip snarled.

"What are you doing? I thought we were past this." Beth held his gaze.

"Oh, me too. But you bitches just keep stealing from me." His voice came out in a growl. Beth glanced toward Ruby and Annie.

Allison stepped to her mother's side, getting over the shock of the man who had been getting under her skin, making her feel things she had never felt, so blatantly threatening her life, the lives of her family. The man she had gotten so incredibly…. Intimate with. "No one stole from you."

His amused look shot to her and he pulled the gun away from Beth's face. His arm shot straight out and aimed between her eyes. Her heart jumped in to her throat. _He's going to kill me. _Her eyes shot to his index finger, feeling relief when she found it relaxed against the trigger shield. The safety on the gun still in place. He glanced at Beth before commanding. "Get over there." He flicked the gun towards the fireplace, where Ruby and Annie stood.

Once they stood in a line of four, Rio tucked his gun back in to his waistband. Carlos and Felix held their guns towards them. Allison was relieved when the barrel of a gun wasn't staring her in the face, but she wasn't happy they were pointing the guns at her family. "You think you can slip in fake cash and I ain't gonna notice?" Rio accused them. Allison's brows creased at this.

Beth immediately defended them. "No, it's not possible. We have a system."

"No me too." Rio argued.

"We know what is real and we know what is fake." Her mother continued to explain.

"Oh! Me too." He repeated, getting angrier by the need to. "And you bitches tried to rip me off a hundred G's?" His eyes scanned over them and landed on Allison. The scowl and glare that rested on her face pissed him off. Like she wasn't taking him seriously, ever difient. In truth, she was offended, a twinge of pain shot through her as he referred to her in the derogatory term.

"What no?" Beth's surprised voice sounded.

"We would never do that!" Annie's voice raised. While the girls defended themselves, Allison stood still. Her jaw clenched as she studied Rio, watched him like he was the worst person on the planet. A look that affected him more than he wanted to admit. Allison noticed Felix and Carlos' eyes veer towards her at the lack of reaction.

"Maybe it was one of the women." Ruby suggested. _Dammit Ruby, don't tell him about them! _Rio's eyes darkened. "Maybe one of them didn't wash the money. And just turned in her surveys, and didn't go shopping."

"What women?" Rio looked directly at Allison. He could read her or at least he thought he could.

Beth didn't miss his look on her daughter. "We couldn't wash the cash fast enough so we had to outsource."

Rio narrowed his eyes. "You shared my business with other people?"

"None of them actually knows anything." Ruby explained. Allison stood watching the shit show as it played out.

Annie added. "They're just women, who think they're literally shopping."

Rio adjusted his weight. "Which one of your lady friends screwed me?"

"How could we know? It could have been one of thirty people." Rio didn't look happy at that.

"I need a name." The girls froze.

"Why?" Allison questioned, finally finding the courage or lack there of to speak.

Rio's eyes ran over her. "To handle it." Her mind flashed to the profile of Rio in the dim light of the night. His arm outstretched, pulling the trigger of his gold gun. The one he had just pointed at her. Allison's eyes dropped to the gold gun he still held loosely in his hand, a silent reminder of the power dynamic. "You're gonna give me a name." He said to Beth. "Or I'm just gonna pick one at the next PTA mixer." _Really? Just gonna kill some random mom?_

Allison couldn't hide the slight disgust, the scrunch of her nose as she looked at him, like she should have been looking at him the moment she laid eyes on him. Rio felt himself fall in to the role harder as he lifted up his gun. "That gonna be a problem?"

The three older women immediately shook their heads while Allison just glared at him. Her lips pursed, eyes hard. Rio took two steps towards where she stood off of Ruby's shoulder, Annie and Beth turned their heads to watch him. "Got something to say sweetheart?" The look of contempt for him on her face pissed him off.

Allison's eyes lifted from the gun and looked at him. He was daring her with his eyes, challenging her to dispute him, test him. But in that moment, she knew better. There were three guns in the house, all a threat to her and her family. As much as she hated how powerless she felt, as strong as she felt the urge to stand up for herself and her family, she couldn't. _Don't have a death wish quite yet. _She swallowed her pride and shook her head, before bowing it and looking at the ground, letting her hair fall forward and over her shoulder, covering her face slightly.

He watched her head turn down submissively to him, and he'd be lying if his more predatory side didn't take pleasure in the gesture as a flood of power rushed through him. "Good girl." He brushed a finger underneath her chin bringing her eyes up to him as he turned around and led his guys out of the back of the house.

Allison dodged the questions and spent the next few hours sorting through all the surveys with Annie, Ruby and her mom. After being sure that there was no way they could tell who was doing their shopping and who wasn't, they needed to come up with a new idea. Allison suggested giving all the shoppers a small drop to spend at a specific store, then seeing who doesn't show up. After a lovely argument on the definition of a stakeout, they made a plan to ensure they would find out who their bad apple was.

And while Allison had a course load of classes to keep her busy and absent from sitting in a car for twelve hours with her family, she couldn't say she missed the danger, the thrill from breaking the 'law', about doing something that someone told you not to do. Defiance, a trait she always took pride in.

She had just finished a long day of classes and was walking through campus towards the parking garage her car was in. Her mind ran wild over the previous day's events.

Allison couldn't, as much as she tried, get the fear she felt when Rio had pointed a gun at her out of her head. It wasn't like when they had first met, he was clearly the enemy, but after everything, she didn't want to think of him as the enemy. _I'm attracted and incredibly terrified of this man. _She didn't know how to handle it. She didn't like feeling weak, especially in front of him. Clearly he was the alpha male, but that didn't mean Allison wanted to let him walk all over her, threaten her when he assumed he knew everything.

She wasn't sure when exactly she decided she wanted protection, and not just some fleasy pepper spray. She needed something to match him, match his strength. That was why she was currently walking up the porch towards Liam's front door. She pulled it open without knocking, knowing that Liam would be waiting for her in his room. After saying a quick hello to his roommates, she pulled open his bedroom door. "Hey Liam!"

He was in a bean bag chair in front of the tv in his room. A bong in one of his hands and the x box controller in the other. He let out a large cloud of smoke as she entered and closed the door behind her. "Allie." He coughed slightly. "How ya doing?"

He placed the items beside her and moved to watch her as she sat on the corner of his bed. "Ya know, same old, same old."

Liam let out a sarcastic laugh. "That's not what I hear." Her brows creased. "I heard about the party." His voice was sympathetic. "Didn't think ya'd actually get with Nick. Guy's an ass."

Allison let out a long breath remembering her less than pleasant night she got herself in to. _At least it ended well._ "I was drunk."

He scoffed. "Clearly. Give Chase blue balls, then hook up with the best friend. Classy Al."

She looked down in embaressment. "I know, I really fucked up with him didn't I?"

Liam stood up and moved to sit next to her on the bed. "You know Chase is sensitive to that shit. You know he likes you right?"

"We're friends Li, you know that." She argued half heartedly.

"So hooking up with him at the end of summer was…?" He nudged her slightly.

Allison let out a frustrated breath. "I was upset that night, he was there for me, just like he always is." Her voice turned somber as she realized just how amazing a friend Chase was. How she betrayed any trust or dignity she had with him. "I'll talk to him Liam, I promise."

He nodded and dropped the subject, noticing her start to shut down. "So what'd you need from me Allie?"

She took a deep breath and met his light blue eyes. "A gun."

That was the last thing he had expected to come out of her mouth. His eyes widened in surprise. "The fuck you need a gun for Allie?"

"Do you have one to sell me or not?" He didn't miss the fear in her voice.

Liam wrapped him arm around her. "What's going on? You can tell me. You in trouble or something?"

She shook her head not wanting to implicate her friend in anything. "I - I just, I need one."

"You even know how to use one of those things?" Liam questioned.

She shook her head. "Will you teach me?" Allison gave him a pleading look.

"Will you tell me what's going on? Is this about that guy? From the club? Chase said he got you from the ADP house." Liam studied her face looking for her reaction.

"If I say yes, will you give me a gun?" Allison was getting desperate at this point.

"Only if you explain this shit to me Allie."

"I can't!" She threw her hands up in frustration and pulled away from him. "I'm sorry I just - I don't want you involved. He's dangerous."

"So you make out with him in a club?" Liam accused.

"You don't get it."

"No I don't! Why don't you explain it?"

"Look, I'm scared Liam. My family, they got mixed up in something. He held a gun to my face, in my parent's house." Liam's eyes darkened at this. "He thinks we stole from him."

"What did you steal?" He saw her shut down at the question.

"I really can't tell you. I don't want you incriminated in any of this Liam. Please. I just - I don't feel safe. I need to fell safe." She begged him.

He took a deep breath, weighing his options. "Look Allie, you're my friend. I want to help you out. But having a gun is dangerous, you're living at home, ya got lil sibs."

"I know, that's why I need to make sure he doesn't hurt my family." Allison said desperately.

Liam let out a long breath and moved to stand up. He opened a portable safe that was kept in the back of his closet and pulled out a black glock and a box of bullets. "Allie. If you need help, please ask me."

"This is bigger than you Li." She smiled slightly at him.

He loaded up the clip for her. "You need to be careful."

"I know what I'm involved in. Trust me." She looked at him with the most serious look she could muster. Her mind flashed to the night her shot a man in front of her. When she saw three people murdered by a gang that her mother had pissed off.

He spent the next half hour showing her how to load and use the gun properly, everything except firing it. Allison thoroughly dodged any questions that Liam threw at her, which she felt bad about. She felt like every time she interacted with her friends she was using them for something.

She wanted to practice though and they made plans to practice one day. "Thank you Liam." Allison said as she hugged him. The gun was tucked safely in the waistband of her jeans and the box of bullets sat in her spring jacket pocket.

"Call if you need anything Allie. Seriously anytime." He walked her out and made sure she got to her care safely.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi there all! So sorry for the long break in updates. Here is the next chapter, let me know what you think. **

**Chapter 11**

"Don't forget, we have midterms on friday. You get one side of a notes sheet for any formulas you deem relevant. Good luck, I will see you all bright and early." Professor Mikealson spoke to the economics class.

Allison shoved her items in to her backpack and made her way out of the small lecture room. She wished she had focused on the lecture more, her grade in the class really counted on that midterm. She didn't know how she was supposed to focus, not when her mother had called only minuted before the start of her lecture. They had found out who wasn't cleaning the money and now she, Mary Pat, was blackmailing them to the tune of a hundred thousand dollars.

She was lost in her thoughts as she walked across campus she didn't notice when a dark form approached her, matching her strides. "You got any insight on our lil problem." His deep voice made her jump slightly.

"Um, what do you mean?" She shot a glance at his smug face before focusing on the path in front of her. Her heart beat harshly in her chest as she forced her feet to carry her forwards.

Rio's hand shot out to stop her strides. "The bitch that ripped me off."

Allison was annoyed, at her entire situation. Annoyed with the fact that she was having… feelings for an all too dangerous man. "What makes you think I know anything? Ever since you held a gun to my face, no one tells me anything." Her lie seeped smoothly. Well it was half true, she still knew what was going on, but she kept out of the house as much as she could. She'd have dinner on or around campus and got home well after the kids were asleep. "They all seem pretty content hiding me on campus."

His brow pulled up and he rand his eyes over her body in a way that made her shiver. "Ya can't hide from me, sweetheart." Rio flashed his teeth.

"Oh I know that." She finally turned to him. "What do you want from me?"

"A name." He responded shortly.

She scoffed, of course that was the only thing he came for. He made it pretty clear what value she was to him when he pointed a gun at her. "They'll get your money washed. It was a mistake. It'll get taken care of." Allison argued trusting her mother to handle it in a humane way.

"I prefer to take care of problems myself." Rio growled, frustrated by the lack of control.

Allison shrugged. "I prefer a lot of things. Doesn't mean they happen." His lips twitched. "Ya gonna put a gun to my face again?" Her eyes glanced around her noticing the setting sun, and the small amount of students moving across the pathways. "Assert your clear control? You think that's what makes people talk?" He raised a brow enjoying the flush that covered her skin in her heated rant. "No. It just makes people say whatever they think you want to hear. So you won't kill them." Her lip raised in a scowl. "You'll get the rest of your money, we'll wash it. It was a mistake."

He wasn't anywhere near satisfied with her answer. "Mistakes get people like us locked up."

"People like us?" The frustration she was feeling was clearly written on her face.

Rio shrugged indifferently. "Yeah. Ya wash cash, for a gang. That's what you do." For some reason his words insulted her.

Her eyes narrowed. "That may be what I do, but that's not who I am." She took a gamble and stepped slightly closer to him. "And I really don't think that's who you are either." Her face was soft as she looked up at him, her eyes begged to see a glimpse of the Rio that she had seen on Halloween.

For a moment, she thought she might get something out of him, his eyes having studied her for a long moment, but he shut down and a cruel look set on his face. "Ya don't know shit kid." Her lips pulled down.

"Yeah clearly not." She mumbled as she looked away from him. "No one knows everything." She was annoyed by his coldness, how he could flip a switch and act like he didn't care. Rio watched as she met his eyes with a defiant look. "This tough guy thing, the need to be above everybody, control everything." His jaw clenched. "It's pathetic."

His hand was suddenly around her neck at the triggering words. Only is fingertips applied pressure, it didn't hinder her breathing, but it made blood rush to her head, caused a light rush in her mind. "Use that pretty head and think bout the next words comin' out ya mouth."

She blinked away from him, realized she had gone too far. Allison took a breath and bravely met his eyes. Her lips twitched upwards and her body, against her better judgement, she stepped closer to him. He loosened his grip on her neck, but his fingers lingered. Her inhibitions rendered, she felt fearless, they were in public, she was aware he couldn't do anything to her without witnesses. His jaw ticked. "Screw you, screw all this. Did you really think you were gonna come here, all intimidating and shit and get me to throw some mother, even more in over her head than my family, under the bus?"

Her eyes stayed on his, she didn't want an answer to the question, it was rehtorical, and he knew it. So she continued. "You really think I'd let you 'handle it'?" She held up air quotes. "When I've literally seen your way of handling things."

Rio's lips pursed slightly. "I ain't say I'd've killed her."

Allison laughed and gestured towards him in the small space they had between them. "Ya come in to people's houses flashing guns." When she was composed she looked at him seriously. "And that's exactly what you were going to do when _my _mother indirectly stole from you. Oh wait, you weren't even gonna do it yourself, just gonna have one of you _guys _do it."

Her words struck him, but he didn't dwell on it, focused on whatever anger he still had, that hadn't disappaited out of some sort of resect. "You like pissin' me off darling?" He was frustrated. She made him feel things he'd never felt. The protectiveness he felt of her, the primal instinct to claim her as him own was overwhelming. The way she stood up to him made him want to put her in her place as much as it made him want to fuck her, worship her, make her his.

"No." Allison answered honestly. She liked seeing behind the front that he always gave, the need to be in control of every single thing, including his own emotions. He was an impossible book to read, and she was getting tired of it.

He didn't believe her and his face showed it, but she didn't have anything more to say to him, so she turned away. "Allison." His deep voice made her turn back around. "Just… be careful." The words sounded almost caring even in the rough tone.

She scoffed. "Oh I've had to." Her eyes narrowed at him and she appreciated the increased distance she had from his intense form. "Don't _ever_ point a gun at me again, unless you're actually going to shoot me. Cause I swear to god." Frustration seeped into her voice. "I'm pointing one back at the next fucking person who does."

Allison turned on her heel and walked towards where her car was parked, replaying every single word he said to her, annoyed with the fact that she couldn't control how she felt about him, couldn't control how her body reacted to him. She was equally scared and curious about the unknown of Rio, and she was tired of her own lack of control.

He watched her walk away, his own mind reeled from their encounter until it landed on the one conclusion he would let himself think about. She had a gun.

Beth, Annie, and Ruby had taken care of getting the cash Mary Pat hadn't washed to Rio via auto theft. They had paid her, and the month had gone on as normal. Allison focused on her classes, and made sure to talk to Chase, apologize for her drunken self, and agreed to some plans with him to make up for it.

She wasn't sure if she was happy she hadn't heard from Rio or disappointed. She tried to be normal, not think about the fact that half of her free time was spent in chain stores buying and returning. Though on some level she enjoyed it, ripping off the billionaires that caused tragedy in the world.

Everything had been quiet when she got home from her classes one weeknight. Allison had awaken early in the morning to get herself a glass of water. When she made her way down to the kitchen she saw the last thing she expected to. Rio and Felix, going through her kitchen cabinets and compiling the pile of cash that Beth had hidden in their foods. "Hey!" Allison whisper yelled, not wanting to awaken her mother who was the only other person on the first floor. "What the hell are you doing?"

Allison moved quickly towards the kitchen towards Rio. "Shuttin' down for a while." He continued to pull money from the bottom of their cereal boxes.

"What do you mean?" She questioned trying to stop him from taking the money they had worked so hard to wash.

He simply pushed her hands away. "Feds are on my ass. Can't risk it." He slid the money towards his guys. Allison glared at the two men who continued to pile the cash into bags like she wasn't even there.

She moved towards Rio and tried to stop him again, but he just grabbed her wrists and pulled her towards him. His face told her that he wasn't playing but his eyes were light, so she pushed. "Some of that money is ours, our cut! We worked for that."

Rio shrugged and slowly lowered her wrists. "What you want me to say? I got closing costs, we all feel the pain." He let his eyes finally run over her form. She was wearing short stripped shorts and an old high school volleyball shirt. Her hair was thrown up in to a messy bun and not a spec of makeup sat on her face.

"That' not fair." Allison scowled at the two men who were putting the food back in to her cabinets, exactly where they were before. If she hadn't woken up, she would have never known he had taken the money. _Until someone noticed it. _

"Life's not fair, thought you knew that sweetheart." He patronized her then gestured to Felix to take the money out. The two men went out her back door and Rio turned to her, grabbing a couple thick stacks of twenties out of his jacket pocket. "This'll hold ya over." He threw them on the kitchen island.

Allison narrowed her eyes. "I don't want your money." He shrugged and moved to take it back but her mind flashed to her mother, struggling to pay the mortgage. _Sarah's kidney_. "Wait." He gave her an amused look, but didn't stop taking the money back. "Please, I'm sorry." He smiled slightly and slid the cash towards her. "Thank you." She was slightly disgusted with herself for accepting the money, but she knew it wasn't just for her.

"Stay under the radar, sirenita." With that he exited the house just as quietly as he had entered.

The next day Allison explained that Rio had taken the money. Beth had wanted to talk to him herself and only gotten the same answers Allison had. The feds were on him, and he couldn't risk going to jail. The downside was Allison was out of a job. She had really taken for granted the first two years of school that she was utterly oblivious to her family's financial troubles. Now she couldn't feel like she was doing something if she wasn't working. Even though she had copious amounts of school work, she knew she needed a job, if for anything to offset her education costs, she still had no idea how her parents were paying her tuition.

Allison had gotten a bartending job at a bar near campus. One of her friend's uncle's owned the place and got her a job with just a quick introduction and interview to make sure she knew what she was doing. She was happy to at least have a way to make legitimate income. Plus she loved the social setting, so working didn't feel too much like work.

She was working out after one of her classes one day. After getting done living weights with Chase, who she had recently made up with, much with the help of Liam, she was stretching out, so her muscles wouldn't be as sore when she felt someone approach from behind her. His tongue shot out to wet his lips as he watched her bend in to a flexible position. "Pretty limber there, princessa." She blushed at the nickname remembering halloween night.

Allison glanced over her shoulder, holding her stretch. Her eyes scanned over him, a black wife beater tucked in to maroon basketball shorts showed the many tattoos that littered his skin. _How the fuck did he get in here. _You needed a school ID and a fingerprint to get in to the school gym. But she wouldn't have put anything past him. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "I like the weight room."

"It's for students." She quipped.

He laughed deeply. "I'm tight with the Dean." She looked at him in disbelief and his eyes dared her to question him.

"Tight with him or have him on your payroll?" She turned towards him, maintaining her sitting position, looking up at him.

His lips twitched and he leaned casually against the wall. "Wouldn't ya love to know, sweetheart."

Allison let out a long breath and rolled out her shoulders from her stretch. She turned towards him and pulled her knees to her chest wrapping her arms around them. "What do you want?"

He sat down on the hard gym flooring mat. "I need an excuse to see ya?"

Her eyes narrowed. This man was confusing the hell out of her. One minute he was cold and calculated, the gangster that provoked fear. But then he would pull a 180 and she would see something in him, a crack in the mask. "Rio." Her voice was tired. "What are we doing?" He raised a brow wanting her to elaborate. "Seriously, if you just want to sleep with me, let's get it over with." His lips pulled in to a smile making Allison roll her eyes and stand up. "Fine, come on." She figured all this sexual tension that had been building since they first laid eyes on each other would be gone. That he would get his fill and move on. Y_ou don't want him to move on. Shut up brain. _

He looked up at her, amused, his eyes ran over her body. She had on high waisted leggings and a sports bra with a zipper running down the middle. The sketchy athletic fabric hugged her skin, leaving little to imagination. Not that he needed to imagine, he had seen her bare as the day she was born, standing in his shower. He shook his head and jumped to his feet. A hand shot behind her back and rested against the exposed inches of her spine. He pulled her in to him and toyed with the ends of her long ponytail. "Tempting, sirenita." Allison slowly dragged her eyes up his body until she met his. "Ya see, that's not the only thing I want from ya. Really wish it was."

_Ugh he's so confusing. _Her chin ticked up defiantly at him. "So what do you want?" His fingers trailed along the texture of her spine, causing shivers to run through her body.

He licked his lips and shook his head while pulling away from her. A small frown pulled at her lips before she was able to hid it. "I don't know." She could hear the frustration in his voice.

She rolled her eyes and moved to turn away from him. "Well figure it out."

His jaw clenched and he matched her strides as she moved out of the workout room. "Why don't you tell me what you want sweetheart."

"I have." She growled and spun around to face him, finding him much closer than she anticipated. Her mind flashed to their intimate moment in the shower. "_I want you. Why do I want you so much?" _

He scoffed. "After a night of fuckin' round." She flushed in embarrassment and anger for him throwing that in her face. Her hand came up and she slapped in. The sound rung through the empty hallway outside of the locker rooms that they were now standing in.

His lack of reaction pissed her off more so than scared her like it should have. Rio's eyes darkened as he moved his head back to front and ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek, feeling the faint sting, she had an arm. "At least I said something you asshole."

He backed her in to the wall and placed his hands next to either side of her head. She tried not to let her eyes run over the exposed and incredibly toned arms, but as they tensed and rippled as he tried to get his temper under control, she couldn't help herself. "Ya sure said _something._"

She scowled at his tone. "It's better than hiding behind a mask, or a gun." She struck a nerve, like with every powerful man, when they're questioned, challenged.

"Watch it." He growled and her mouth snapped shut. "Remember who you talkin' to sweetheart."

She hated how the term made her feel like a child, like she was getting lectured by her father when he patronized her. Allison looked around the empty hallway, it was late, the gym had mostly cleared out, she was surprised that they had let her and the small amount of people still lingering be there. She figured if they were going to hash this out, a place with security cameras would be best.

Her lip pulled between her teeth as her mind ran. She hated how uncomfortable he made her feel, yet completely at ease all at the same time. Her eyes ran over him not in lust, but simply taking him all in, she slumped back against the wall, feeling smaller underneath him. When she was able to raise her chin and meet his gaze again, she was met with scrutinizing look, his jaw was sharp, clenched tight, and his brows pulled in slightly. "I'm not gonna keep asking if you want me, clearly you want something." She took the slight twitch of his lip as confirmation. "And you know I want _you._ All of you. Every single thing you're a part of. I wanna know everything about you." Her hand reached up and brushed against his jaw, she was relieved when he didn't jerk away from her as she played with the short stubble. "But." She let her hand drop from Rio's face. "If we're just gonna keep going around in this circle, I'm done. For real this time."

Rio pursed his lips and nodded slightly. As much as he wanted to turn it around on her, he couldn't help but respect her standing up to him. "So what? We gonna go on dates, hold hands on the beach, hook up at parties? Not really my thing darling." She didn't expect the hurt she felt, she knew who he was, the kind of life he lived. But yeah, maybe she did want him to do normal things with her. _But he's not a normal guy. _"Or ya gonna come bang with me?" _Well I did get a gun. _He saw the look on her face and narrowed his eyes. "Don't even think 'bout it, sirenita." His world would chew the girl up and spit her out, even with her sharp mind. Normally, with any other girl, he wouldn't give a shit, the ones that couldn't handle it, steered clear. A little white girl too smart for her own good would automatically put a target on her back, let alone the bigger one being with him would do.

"I'm tougher than I look." Her mind flashed to the gun she had tucked away safely in her car.

He chuckled at that and relaxed his arms to his side. "Oh I know ya are. That don't mean you a match for the streets."

She smiled tightly. "Never said I was."

"But you a match for me?" He wanted to know why a girl like her would want him. She was a college kid with an active social life. Had everything going for her.

Allison shrugged. "I don't know, I don't really know you. I just know how I feel. And I'm pretty sure you do too." Her mind flashed to the heated moment in Rio's shower, how vulnerable she felt with him. He had seen her at her worst, her lowest points over the past few months. And he had been a mystery, every emotion was controlled, every word. "So what now?" His silence was putting her off.

His lips were suddenly on hers in a heated kiss that she wasn't able to get as lost as she wanted to in before he pulled away. "That answer ya question?"

She just smirked and pressed herself against him. "Mmm, not really." She mumbled against his lips as her arms ran up with tank clad torso, brushing over the toned arms and shoulders, memorizing each muscle with her finger tips and bringing them together behind his neck. She enjoyed the short chopped, yet somehow still soft and light feeling of his hair.

His tongue had invaded its way in to her mouth, covering every inch, pouring every ounce of passion he had felt since he first laid eyes on her, when she played him at his own game. And while she may not have won, she definitely made her mark.

Rio pulled away after a few minutes for air and looked at her. "So what you want now, mí sirenita?" The nickname actually sent a shiver up her spine, the way he drawled out the word in a low husk voice. She bit her lip and met his eyes, they were so dark, yet in that moment, so inviting, she wanted the darkness, she wanted everything that he was.

"Buy me dinner?" Her voice shook slightly, scared of the rejection she would face. His eyes ran down her face and met hers again playfully.

A smirk pulled at Rio's lips, yet his mind was further. Dating was never really his thing. "I'll text ya." He then pulled away from her, and walked down the hallway before turning the corner towards the entrance, leaving her more confused than before.

**(Note) Again, very sorry about the late update. Thank you for all the support and encouragement via reviews and private messages. Life's been a little rough lately and I don't really have a clear vision on how I am going to approach season two, I'm open to ideas and inspiration. I also want to make a stronger unique storyline for my character, so I've reworking my plan for the story and seeing where I want it to go. **

**I also wanted your opinions on something since so many seem to love the story and I want to write for you all as much as I write and enjoy this story for myself. So this chapter was very Rio heavy, which I'm sure is what you all love to read because I do too. But I also want to do more with the main three characters in the show, Ruby, Beth, and Annie and show more of Allison's personality and not just fill in the blanks from Rio for the show but the girls as well. But if Rio is what y'all are looking for I will move on with the story, otherwise I have re written parts of previous chapters and would like to add some of those moments as I have time. But if you guys don't want updates on old chapters, I'll keep writing and posting new ones.**


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